Fine timing measurement ftm method and communications device

ABSTRACT

A fine timing measurement FTM method and a communications device are disclosed. The method includes: receiving an FTM request frame from at least two communications devices; and sending a first FTM measurement frame according to the FTM request frame, where the first FTM measurement frame includes a measurement parameter of each of the at least two communications devices and identifier information identifying each of the at least two communications devices, so that each communications device obtains the measurement parameter according to the identifier information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/022,612, filed on Jun. 28, 2018, which is a continuation ofInternational Application No. PCT/CN2016/112315, filed on Dec. 27, 2016.The International Application claims priority to Chinese PatentApplication No. 201511017027.2, filed on Dec. 29, 2015. All of theafore-mentioned patent applications are hereby incorporated by referencein their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to the communications field, and in particular,to a time-based measurement method, a fine timing measurement FTMmethod, and a communications device using the method.

BACKGROUND

Fine timing measurement (FTM) is applied to various fields in the modernscience and technology, such as communications and positioning, andranging. To prevent a measurement error caused by imprecisesynchronization, in existing FTM measurement, measurement is performedusing a method for measuring a time of flight of information in aone-to-one manner. A communications device and a response device thatuse the measurement method need to exchange information for multipletimes, to learn of a distance between the communications device and theresponse device.

SUMMARY

When multiple communications devices perform ranging at the same timewith one response device, by means of an existing FTM method, theresponse device needs to separately complete corresponding informationexchange for multiple times with a current communications device,leading to a long measurement time and low measurement efficiency.Embodiments of this application provide a new procedure for fine timingmeasurement FTM, an FTM measurement frame is broadcast in a one-to-manymanner, instead of sending multiple FTM measurement frames in aone-to-one manner as in the prior art. This can reduce an amount ofinteractions between a response device and multiple communicationsdevices during FTM measurement, and the multiple communications devicescan be measured at the same time, thereby shortening measurementduration and improving measurement efficiency.

According to a first aspect, a fine timing measurement FTM method isprovided. The method includes: receiving an FTM request frame sent by atleast two communications devices; and sending a first FTM measurementframe according to the FTM request frame, where the first FTMmeasurement frame includes a measurement parameter of each of the atleast two communications devices and identifier information used toindicate each communications device, so that each communications deviceobtains the measurement parameter of each communications deviceaccording to the identifier information.

When FTM measurement is performed on multiple communications devices,the multiple communications devices can learn of, by receiving a samefirst FTM measurement frame, measurement parameters corresponding to themultiple communications devices, to perform FTM measurement. A responsedevice may broadcast the first FTM measurement frame in a one-to-manymanner, instead of sending multiple first FTM measurement frames in aone-to-one manner as in the prior art, so that interaction processes canbe reduced to save a channel resource, and FTM measurement can beperformed on the multiple communications devices at the same time,thereby shortening a measurement time and improving measurementefficiency. It should be understood that, a terminal or an access pointhaving a Wi-Fi function may be a communications device or a responsedevice.

In one embodiment, the first FTM measurement frame includes feedbackindication information, and the feedback indication information is usedto indicate a time interval at which each communications device sendsresponse information after each communications device receives the firstFTM measurement frame.

The multiple communications devices may sequentially send responseinformation to the response device according to the feedback indicationinformation, so that a sending failure caused by a response informationcollision can be prevented, and the response information can beaccurately and efficiently fed back to the response device according toan indication, thereby improving measurement efficiency.

In one embodiment, the measurement method may further include: receivingthe response information that is sent by each communications deviceaccording to the first FTM measurement frame; and sending a second FTMmeasurement frame, where the second FTM measurement frame includes asending moment of the first FTM measurement frame, a receiving moment ofthe response information sent by each communications device, and theidentifier information, so that each communications device obtains acorresponding receiving moment according to the identifier information.

The response device can send the first FTM measurement frame in aone-to-many manner, instead of sending multiple first FTM measurementframes in a one-to-one manner, and can send one second FTM measurementframe in a one-to-many manner, instead of sending multiple second FTMmeasurement frames in a one-to-one manner, so that FTM measurement canbe performed on the multiple communications devices at the same time,and further, interaction processes are reduced, thereby improvingmeasurement efficiency.

In one embodiment, there is a correspondence between a sequence of theidentifier information of each communications device and a sequence offeeding back the response information by each communications deviceafter each communications device receives the first FTM measurementframe.

The identifier information is used to instruct the multiplecommunications devices to obtain the measurement parameterscorresponding to the multiple communications devices, and the sequenceof the identifier information may further indicate a sequence of feedingback response information by each of the multiple communicationsdevices, so that after receiving the identifier information, thecommunications device learns of the sequence of feeding back theresponse information by the communications device, thereby preventing aninformation transmission failure caused by a collision, and improvingmeasurement efficiency.

In one embodiment, the identifier information includes a Media AccessControl (MAC) address or an association identifier (AID).

In one embodiment, the first FTM measurement frame includes feedbackindication information, and the feedback indication information is usedto indicate a time interval at which each communications device feedsback response information after each communications device receives thefirst FTM measurement frame.

The multiple communications devices may sequentially send the responseinformation to the response device at a particular time intervalaccording to an indication of the feedback indication information, sothat an information transmission failure caused by a communicationcollision can be prevented, and the response information can beaccurately and efficiently fed back to the response device, therebyimproving measurement efficiency.

In one embodiment, the at least two communications devices send firstpieces of response information after a short interframe space SIFS afterreceiving the first FTM measurement frame.

In one embodiment, the measurement method may further include: aftersending the first FTM measurement frame, sending a first non-data packet(NDP); and receiving a second NDP fed back by each communicationsdevice, and sending a second FTM measurement frame, where the second FTMmeasurement frame includes a sending moment of the first NDP, areceiving moment of the second NDP sent by each communications device,and the identifier information, so that each communications deviceobtains the sending moment and a corresponding receiving momentaccording to the identifier information.

Corresponding time information is obtained by exchanging NDPs, therebyimproving measurement precision and further improving measurementaccuracy.

In one embodiment, at least one of the FTM request frame or the firstFTM measurement frame includes function indication information used toindicate that the communications device supports multi-user measurement.

The response device or the communications device can learn, by using thefunction indication information, whether the opposite party can performa many-to-one measurement operation, thereby preventing the responsedevice from blindly sending the first FTM measurement frame orpreventing the communications device from blindly sending the FTMrequest frame.

In one embodiment, the first FTM measurement frame further includes atleast one of quantity information or message length information, wherethe quantity information is used to indicate a quantity of the at leasttwo communications devices; and the message length information is usedto indicate a length occupied by each of time information and parameterinformation of each communications device, or the message lengthinformation is used to indicate a length occupied by time information orother information of each communications device.

Each communications device can learn of the specific quantity of the atleast two communications devices by using the quantity information, sothat each communications device can estimate, according to the quantitywith reference to factors such as a sending sequence of eachcommunications device and a time interval, a time of performing FTMmeasurement by each communications device, and each communicationsdevice can estimate a waiting time for measurement. Each communicationsdevice can more rapidly find the measurement parameter, the identifierinformation, or other information of each communications device by usingthe message length information, thereby improving measurementefficiency.

According to a second aspect, a fine timing measurement FTM method isprovided. The method includes: receiving a first FTM request frame sentby at least one first communications device; sending a first FTMmeasurement frame according to the first FTM request frame; receivingresponse information that is sent by each of the at least one firstcommunications device according to the first FTM measurement frame;receiving a second FTM request frame sent by at least one secondcommunications device; and sending a second FTM measurement frame, wherethe second FTM measurement frame includes first identifier informationused to indicate each first communications device, a sending moment ofthe first FTM measurement frame, a receiving moment of the responseinformation of each first communications device, a measurement parameterof each of the at least one second communications device, and secondidentifier information used to indicate each second communicationsdevice, so that each first communications device obtains a correspondingreceiving moment according to the first identifier information, and eachsecond communications device obtains the measurement parameter of eachsecond communications device according to the second identifierinformation.

The second FTM measurement frame is received, so that the firstcommunications device can learn of the receiving moment corresponding tothe first communications device, and further the second communicationsdevice can learn of the measurement parameter corresponding to thesecond communications device. By sending one second FTM measurementframe in a one-to-many manner, a response device can enable the firstcommunications device and the second communications device to obtainrespective required information, and does not need to send multiple FTMmeasurement frames in a one-to-one manner as in the prior art.Therefore, interaction processes can be reduced to save a channelresource, and FTM measurement can be performed on multiplecommunications devices at the same time, thereby reducing a measurementtime and improving measurement efficiency.

In one embodiment, the first FTM measurement frame includes ameasurement parameter of each first communications device and the firstidentifier information, so that each first communications device obtainsthe measurement parameter of each first communications device accordingto the first identifier information.

When FTM measurement is performed on multiple communications devices,the multiple communications devices can learn of, by receiving a samefirst FTM measurement frame and according to the first identifierinformation, measurement parameters corresponding to the multiplecommunications devices, to perform FTM. As a result, a quantity ofinteractions can be reduced, and FTM can be performed on the multiplecommunications devices at the same time, thereby further reducing ameasurement time and improving measurement efficiency.

In one embodiment, the second FTM measurement frame includes feedbackindication information, and the feedback indication information is usedto indicate a time interval at which each second communications devicesends response information after each second communications devicereceives the second FTM measurement frame.

The each second communications device may sequentially send the responseinformation to the response device according to the feedback indicationinformation, so that a transmission failure caused by a transmissioncollision can be prevented, and the response information can beaccurately and efficiently fed back to the response device according toan indication, thereby improving measurement efficiency.

In one embodiment, there is a correspondence between a sequence of thesecond identifier information of each second communications device and asequence of sending the response information by each secondcommunications device after each second communications device receivesthe second FTM measurement frame.

The second identifier information is used to instruct the secondcommunications device to obtain the measurement parameter correspondingto the second communications device, and the sequence of the secondidentifier information may further indicate a sequence of sending theresponse information by each second communications device, so that afterreceiving the identifier information, each second communications devicelearns of the sequence of sending the response information by eachsecond communications device, thereby preventing an informationtransmission failure caused by a transmission collision, and improvingmeasurement efficiency.

In one embodiment, both the first identifier information and the secondidentifier information include a MAC address or an AID.

In one embodiment, the second FTM measurement frame includes feedbackindication information, and the feedback indication information is usedto indicate a time interval at which by each second communicationsdevice sends response information after each second communicationsdevice receives the second FTM measurement frame.

Multiple second communications devices may sequentially send responseinformation to the response device at a particular time intervalaccording to an indication of the feedback indication information, sothat an information transmission failure caused by a transmissioncollision can be prevented, and the response information can beaccurately and efficiently fed back to the response device, therebyimproving measurement efficiency.

In one embodiment, the at least two second communications devices feedback first pieces of response information after a short interframe spaceSIFS after receiving the first FTM measurement frame.

In one embodiment, the method may further include: receiving a first FTMrequest frame sent by the at least one first communications device;sending a first FTM measurement frame according to the first FTM requestframe; after sending the first FTM measurement frame, sending a firstNDP; receiving a second NDP sent by each of the at least one firstcommunications device; receiving a second FTM request frame sent by theat least one second communications device; and sending a second FTMmeasurement frame, where the second FTM measurement frame includes firstidentifier information used to indicate each first communicationsdevice, a sending moment of sending the first NDP, a receiving moment ofreceiving the second NDP of each first communications device, ameasurement parameter of each of the at least one second communicationsdevice, and second identifier information used to indicate each secondcommunications device.

The second FTM measurement frame is received, so that the firstcommunications device can learn of time information corresponding to thefirst communications device, and further the second communicationsdevice can learn of the measurement parameter corresponding to thesecond communications device. By sending one second FTM measurementframe, the response device can enable the first communications deviceand the second communications device to obtain respective requiredinformation, and does not need to send multiple FTM measurement framesas in the prior art. By means of the measurement method, interactionprocesses can be reduced to improve measurement efficiency, andcorresponding time information is obtained by exchanging NDPs, therebyimproving measurement precision.

In one embodiment, the method further includes: after sending the secondFTM measurement frame, sending a third NDP; receiving a fourth NDP sentby each second communications device; and sending a third FTMmeasurement frame, where the third FTM measurement frame carries asending moment of sending the third NDP, a receiving moment of receivingthe fourth NDP of each second communications device, and the secondidentifier information.

After sending the third FTM measurement frame completely, the responsedevice sends the third NDP to the second communications device, toobtain corresponding time information by exchanging NDPs, therebyimproving measurement precision and further improving measurementaccuracy.

In one embodiment, at least one of the first FTM request frame, thesecond FTM request frame, the first FTM measurement frame, or the secondFTM measurement frame may include function indication information usedto indicate that the communications device supports multi-usermeasurement.

The response device or the communications device can learn, using thefunction indication information, whether the opposite party can performa many-to-one measurement operation, thereby preventing the responsedevice from blindly sending the FTM measurement frame or preventing thecommunications device from blindly sending the FTM request frame.

In one embodiment, the second FTM measurement frame further includes atleast one of quantity information or message length information, wherethe quantity information is used to indicate a sum of a quantity of thefirst communications devices and a quantity of the second communicationsdevices; and the message length information is used to indicate a lengthoccupied by each of time information and parameter information of eachfirst communications device and each second communications device, orthe message length information is used to indicate a length occupied bytime information or other information of each second communicationsdevice.

The first communications device and the second communications device canlearn of, using the quantity information, a specific quantity ofcommunications devices participating in multi-user measurement, so thateach second communications device can estimate, according to thequantity information and a factor such as a sending sequence of eachsecond communications device or a time interval, a time of performingFTM by each second communications device. The first communicationsdevice and the second communications device can more rapidly find, byusing the message length information, the identifier informationcorresponding to the first communications device and the identifierinformation corresponding to the second communications device, andinformation that needs to be obtained.

According to a third aspect, a fine timing measurement FTM method isprovided. The method includes: sending, by a first communicationsdevice, an FTM request frame to a response device; receiving, by thefirst communications device, a first FTM measurement frame that is sentby the response device according to the FTM request frame, where thefirst FTM measurement frame includes a measurement parameter of each ofat least two communications devices, and the first FTM measurement framefurther includes identifier information used to indicate eachcommunications device; and obtaining, by the first communicationsdevice, the measurement parameter of the first communications device inthe at least two communications devices according to the identifierinformation.

The first communications device can obtain, according to the identifierinformation, the measurement parameter corresponding to the firstcommunications device, to perform FTM. Therefore, the firstcommunications device and multiple communications devices can receive asame first FTM measurement frame, to obtain respective measurementparameters. As a result, a quantity of interactions can be reduced,thereby shortening a measurement time and improving measurementefficiency.

In one embodiment, the first FTM measurement frame includes feedbackindication information, and the feedback indication information is usedto indicate a time interval at which the first communications devicesends response information after the first communications devicereceives the first FTM measurement frame.

The first communications device can obtain, according to the feedbackindication information, a moment of sending the response information tothe response device by the first communications device, therebypreventing an information transmission failure caused by a transmissioncollision that occurs when the first communications device and anothercommunications device send response information, and improvingmeasurement efficiency.

In one embodiment, the measurement method further includes: sending, bythe first communications device, the response information to theresponse device according to the first FTM measurement frame; receiving,by the first communications device, a second FTM measurement frame sentby the response device, where the second FTM measurement frame includesa sending moment of sending the first FTM measurement frame by theresponse device, a receiving moment of receiving the responseinformation of each communications device by the response device, andthe identifier information; and obtaining, by the first communicationsdevice according to the identifier information, a receiving momentcorresponding to the first communications device.

The first communications device can obtain, according to the identifierinformation, the receiving moment corresponding to the firstcommunications device, so that FTM measurement can be performed on thefirst communications device and multiple communications devices at thesame time, thereby improving measurement efficiency.

In one embodiment, there is a correspondence between a sequence of theidentifier information of the first communications device in theidentifier information of the at least two communications devices and asequence, of sending the response information by the firstcommunications device after the first communications device receives thefirst FTM measurement frame, in sending the response information by theat least two communications devices after the at least twocommunications devices receive the first FTM measurement frame.

The identifier information can instruct the first communications deviceto obtain the measurement parameter corresponding to the firstcommunications device, and the sequence of the identifier informationmay further indicate the sequence of sending the response information bythe first communications device, so that after receiving the identifierinformation, the first communications device learns of a sequence ofsending the response information by the first communications device,thereby preventing an information transmission failure caused by atransmission collision, and improving measurement efficiency.

In one embodiment, the identifier information includes a MAC address oran AID.

In one embodiment, the first FTM measurement frame includes feedbackindication information, and the feedback indication information is usedto indicate a time interval at which each communications device feedsback response information after each communications device receives thefirst FTM measurement frame.

The first communications device may send the response information to theresponse device at a particular time interval according to an indicationof the feedback indication information, so that an informationtransmission failure caused by a transmission collision can beprevented, and the response information can be accurately andefficiently fed back to the response device, thereby improvingmeasurement efficiency.

In one embodiment, the method may further include: after receiving thefirst FTM measurement frame, receiving, by the first communicationsdevice, a first NDP; sending, by the first communications device, asecond NDP to the response device; receiving a second FTM measurementframe, where the second FTM measurement frame includes a sending momentof sending the first FTM measurement frame by the response device, areceiving moment of receiving the second NDP of each communicationsdevice by the response device, and the identifier information; andobtaining, by the first communications device according to theidentifier information, a receiving moment corresponding to the firstcommunications device.

Corresponding time information is obtained by exchanging NDPs, therebyimproving measurement precision and further improving measurementaccuracy.

In one embodiment, at least one of the FTM request frame or the firstFTM measurement frame includes function indication information used toindicate that the communications device supports multi-user measurement.

The response device or the communications device can learn, using thefunction indication information, whether the opposite party can performa many-to-one measurement operation, thereby preventing the responsedevice from blindly sending the first FTM measurement frame orpreventing the communications device from blindly sending the FTMrequest frame.

In one embodiment, the first FTM measurement frame further includes atleast one of quantity information or message length information, wherethe quantity information is used to indicate a quantity of the at leasttwo communications devices; and the message length information is usedto indicate a length occupied by each of time information and parameterinformation of each communications device.

The first communications device can learn of the specific quantity ofthe at least two communications devices by using the quantityinformation, so that the first communications device can estimate,according to the quantity and with reference to a factor such as asending sequence of the first communications device or a time interval,a waiting time for measurement, thereby preventing the communicationsdevice from blindly sending the response information or participating inFTM. The first communications device can more rapidly find themeasurement parameter of the first communications device by using themessage length information, thereby improving measurement efficiency.

According to a fourth aspect, a fine timing measurement FTM method isprovided. The method includes: sending, by a first communicationsdevice, a first FTM request frame to a response device; receiving, bythe first communications device, a first FTM measurement frame that issent by the response device according to the first FTM request frame;sending, by the first communications device, response information to theresponse device; receiving, by the first communications device, a secondFTM measurement frame sent by the response device, where the second FTMmeasurement frame includes first identifier information used to indicatethe first communications device, a sending moment of sending the firstFTM measurement frame by the response device, a receiving moment ofreceiving the response information of the first communications device bythe response device, a measurement parameter of each of at least onesecond communications device, and second identifier information used toindicate each second communications device; and obtaining, by the firstcommunications device according to the first identifier information, areceiving moment corresponding to the first communications device.

The first communications device can obtain the corresponding receivingmoment according to the first identifier information, so that FTMmeasurement can be performed on the first communications device andmultiple communications devices at the same time, thereby improvingmeasurement efficiency.

In one embodiment, the first FTM measurement frame includes ameasurement parameter of the first communications device and the firstidentifier information; and the method further includes: obtaining, bythe first communications device, the measurement parameter of the firstcommunications device according to the first identifier information.

When FTM is performed on the multiple communications devices, the firstcommunications device can learn of, by using the first identifierinformation, the measurement parameter corresponding to the firstcommunications device, to perform FTM measurement. Therefore,interaction processes can be reduced to save a channel resource, and FTMmeasurement can be performed on the first communications device and themultiple communications devices at the same time, thereby improvingmeasurement efficiency.

In one embodiment, the second FTM measurement frame includes feedbackindication information, and the feedback indication information is usedto indicate a time interval at which each second communications devicesends response information after each second communications devicereceives the second FTM measurement frame.

Each second communications device can determine, according to thefeedback indication information, a moment of sending the responseinformation to the response device by each second communications device,thereby preventing an information transmission failure caused by atransmission collision that occurs when each second communicationsdevice and another communications device send response information, andimproving measurement efficiency.

In one embodiment, there is a correspondence between a sequence of thesecond identifier information of each second communications device and asequence of sending the response information by each secondcommunications device after each second communications device receivesthe second FTM measurement frame.

In one embodiment, both the first identifier information and the secondidentifier information include a MAC address or an AID.

In one embodiment, the second FTM measurement frame includes feedbackindication information, and the feedback indication information is usedto indicate a time interval at which each second communications devicesends the response information after each second communications devicereceives the second FTM measurement frame.

Multiple second communications devices may sequentially send responseinformation to the response device at a particular time intervalaccording to an indication of the feedback indication information, sothat an information transmission failure caused by a transmissioncollision can be prevented, and the response information can beaccurately and efficiently sent to the response device, therebyimproving measurement efficiency.

In one embodiment, the at least two second communications devices feedback first pieces of response information after a short interframe spaceSIFS after receiving the second FTM measurement frame.

In one embodiment, the measurement method may further include: sendingan FTM request frame to the response device; receiving a first FTMmeasurement frame sent by the response device; receiving a first NDPdata packet sent by the response device; sending a second NDP to theresponse device; receiving a second FTM measurement frame sent by theresponse device, where the second FTM measurement frame includes firstidentifier information used to indicate the first communications device,a sending moment of sending the first NDP by the response device, areceiving moment of receiving the second NDP of the first communicationsdevice by the response device, a measurement parameter of each of the atleast one second communications device, and second identifierinformation used to indicate the second communications device; andobtaining, according to the first identifier information, a receivingmoment corresponding to the first communications device.

The first communications device can learn of, by using the secondidentifier information, time information corresponding to the firstcommunications device. By sending one second FTM measurement frame, theresponse device can enable the first communications device and thesecond communications device to obtain respective required information,and does not need to send multiple FTM measurement frames as in theprior art. By means of the measurement method, interaction processes canbe reduced to improve measurement efficiency, and corresponding timeinformation is obtained by exchanging NDPs, thereby improvingmeasurement precision.

In one embodiment, the measurement method further includes: after thesecond communications device receives the second FTM measurement framesent by the response device, receiving, by the second communicationsdevice, a third NDP sent by the response device; sending, by the secondcommunications device, a fourth NDP to the response device; receiving,by the second communications device, a third FTM measurement frame sentby the response device, where the third FTM measurement frame includes asending moment of sending the third NDP by the response device, areceiving moment of receiving the fourth NDP of the secondcommunications device by the response device, and the second identifierinformation used to indicate the second communications device; andobtaining, by the second communications device, a correspondingreceiving moment according to the second identifier information.

Corresponding time information is obtained by exchanging NDPs, therebyimproving measurement precision and further improving measurementaccuracy.

In one embodiment, at least one of the first FTM request frame, thesecond FTM request frame, the first FTM measurement frame, or the secondFTM measurement frame includes function indication information used toindicate that the communications device supports multi-user measurement.

The response device or the communications device can learn, using thefunction indication information, whether the opposite party can performa many-to-one measurement operation, thereby preventing the responsedevice from blindly sending the corresponding FTM measurement frame orpreventing the communications device from blindly sending the FTMrequest frame.

In one embodiment, the second FTM measurement frame further includes atleast one of quantity information or message length information, wherethe quantity information is used to indicate a sum of a quantity of thefirst communications devices and a quantity of the second communicationsdevices; and the message length information is used to indicate a lengthoccupied by each of time information and parameter information of eachfirst communications device and each second communications device, orthe message length information is used to indicate a length occupied bytime information or other information of each first communicationsdevice and each second communications device.

The first communications device and the second communications device canlearn of, by using the quantity information, a specific quantity ofcommunications devices participating in the multi-user measurement, sothat each second communications device can estimate an FTM measurementdelay according to the quantity information and a factor such as asending sequence of each second communications device or a timeinterval, thereby improving measurement efficiency. The firstcommunications device and the second communications device can morerapidly find, by using the message length information, the identifierinformation corresponding to the first communications device and theidentifier information corresponding to the second communicationsdevice, and information that needs to be obtained.

According to a fifth aspect, a communications device is provided,configured to perform the method according to any one of the firstaspect or the embodiments of the first aspect. Specifically, thecommunications device includes a receiving module and a sending modulethat are configured to perform any one of the first aspect or theembodiments of the first aspect.

According to a sixth aspect, a communications device is provided,configured to perform the method according to any one of the secondaspect or the embodiments of the second aspect. Specifically, thecommunications device includes a receiving module and a sending modulethat are configured to perform the method according to any one of thesecond aspect or the embodiments of the second aspect.

According to a seventh aspect, a communications device is provided,configured to perform the method according to any one of the thirdaspect or the possible implementations of the third aspect.Specifically, the communications device includes a receiving module, asending module, and an obtaining module that are configured to performthe method according to any one of the third aspect or the embodimentsof the third aspect.

According to an eighth aspect, a communications device is provided,configured to perform the method according to any one of the fourthaspect or the embodiments of the fourth aspect. Specifically, thecommunications device includes a receiving module, a sending module, andan obtaining module that are configured to perform the method accordingto any one of the fourth aspect or the embodiments of the fourth aspect.

According to a ninth aspect, a communications device is provided,including: a transceiver, a memory, a processor, and a bus system. Thetransceiver, the memory, and the processor are connected by using thebus system; the memory is configured to store an instruction; theprocessor is configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory;the processor is further configured to control the transceiver toreceive and send information or a signal; and when the processorexecutes the instruction stored in the memory, the execution enables theprocessor to perform the method according to any one of the first aspector any embodiments of the first aspect.

According to a tenth aspect, a communications device is provided,including: a transceiver, a memory, a processor, and a bus system. Thetransceiver, the memory, and the processor are connected by using thebus system; the memory is configured to store an instruction; theprocessor is configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory;the processor is further configured to control the transceiver toreceive and send information or a signal; and when the processorexecutes the instruction stored in the memory, the execution enables theprocessor to perform the method according to any one of the secondaspect or any embodiments of the second aspect.

According to an eleventh aspect, a communications device is provided,including: a transceiver, a memory, a processor, and a bus system. Thetransceiver, the memory, and the processor are connected by using thebus system; the memory is configured to store an instruction; theprocessor is configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory;the processor is further configured to control the transceiver toreceive and send information or a signal; and when the processorexecutes the instruction stored in the memory, the execution enables theprocessor to perform the method according to any one of the third aspector any embodiments of the third aspect.

According to a twelfth aspect, a communications device is provided,including: a transceiver, a memory, a processor, and a bus system. Thetransceiver, the memory, and the processor are connected by using thebus system; the memory is configured to store an instruction; theprocessor is configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory;the processor is further configured to control the transceiver toreceive and send information or a signal; and when the processorexecutes the instruction stored in the memory, the execution enables theprocessor to perform the method according to any one of the fourthaspect or any embodiments of the fourth aspect.

According to a thirteenth aspect, a computer readable medium isprovided, configured to store a computer program, where the computerprogram includes instructions for performing the method according to anyone of the first aspect or the possible implementations of the firstaspect.

According to a fourteenth aspect, a computer readable medium isprovided, configured to store a computer program, where the computerprogram includes instructions for performing the method according to anyone of the second aspect or the embodiments of the second aspect.

According to a fifteenth aspect, a computer readable medium is provided,configured to store a computer program, where the computer programincludes instructions for performing the method according to any one ofthe third aspect or the possible implementations of the third aspect.

According to a sixteenth aspect, a computer readable medium is provided,configured to store a computer program, where the computer programincludes instructions for performing the method according to any one ofthe fourth aspect or the embodiments of the fourth aspect.

During implementation of this application, a measurement parameter fieldcarries a measurement parameter; the measurement parameter field mayinclude a status indication used to indicate a request success orfailure; a value used to set a time length; reserved; the number ofmeasurement groups (Number of bursts exponent) used to indicate aquantity of measurement groups; duration (e.g., Burst Duration): a timethat lasts; an FTM interval (e.g., Min Deltan FTM) used to indicate atime interval between two consecutive FTM measurement frames; partialtiming (e.g., Partial TSF timer) used to indicate a time of sending afirst FTM measurement frame by a response device after the responsedevice receives an FTM request; a function indication (ASAP capable)used to indicate whether a time stamp of the first FTM measurement framecan be obtained and fed back in a subsequent FTM frame; ASAP used toindicate whether FTM measurement is expected to start as soon aspossible; a quantity of times (FTMs per burst) used to indicate aquantity of times of performing FTM measurement during measurement onone group; an FTM format and bandwidth (FTM) used to indicate an FTMframe type and an occupied bandwidth (for example, the type is an 11ntype or an 11ac type, and the bandwidth is 20 M, or 40 M, or 80 M); anda measurement group period (Burst period) used to indicate duration of ameasurement group (burst).

The foregoing and other aspects of this application are clearer andeasier to understand in descriptions of the following multipleembodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of ameasurement method according to an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of a measurement method according to anembodiment of this application;

FIG. 3 is another schematic flowchart of a measurement method accordingto an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an action field in an FTM measurementframe according to an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a measurement parameter field in an FTMmeasurement frame according to an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a measurement method according toanother embodiment of this application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic flowchart of a measurement method according tostill another embodiment of this application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural block diagram of a communicationsdevice according to an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural block diagram of a communicationsdevice according to another embodiment of this application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural block diagram of a communicationsdevice according to still another embodiment of this application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural block diagram of a communicationsdevice according to yet another embodiment of this application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural block diagram of a communicationsdevice according to yet another embodiment of this application;

FIG. 13 is a schematic structural block diagram of a communicationsdevice according to yet another embodiment of this application;

FIG. 14 is a schematic structural block diagram of a communicationsdevice according to yet another embodiment of this application; and

FIG. 15 is a schematic structural block diagram of a communicationsdevice according to yet another embodiment of this application.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The following clearly and describes the technical solutions in theembodiments of this application with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in the embodiments of this application.

A communications device and a response device may both communicate withone or more core networks by using a radio access network (RAN). Each ofthe communications device and the response device may be a mobileterminal such as a mobile phone (or referred to as a “cellular” phone)or a computer with a mobile terminal. For example, each of thecommunications device and the response device may be a portable,pocket-sized, handheld, computer built-in, or in-vehicle mobileapparatus, which exchanges voice or data with the radio access networkor may exchange voice and data at the same. Each of the communicationsdevice and the response device may also be a device such as an accesspoint AP (Access Point) or a base station. Generally, a terminal havinga Wi-Fi function may be a communications device or a response device.

Before the embodiments of this application are described, an applicationscenario of the embodiments of this application is first described. Theembodiments of this application may be applied to a network architecturebased on a Wi-Fi technology. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of anapplication scenario of a positioning method of a communications deviceaccording to an embodiment of this application. In the applicationscenario in FIG. 1, multiple communications devices may send FTMrequests to a same response device. By means of a method in the priorart, the response device needs to interact with each communicationsdevice for multiple times. If in an intensive scenario, for example, apublic place such as an airport, a bus stop, or a hospital, thecommunications device needs to take a longer time to perform FTM withthe response device, leading to a long time of the measurement methodand low efficiency. The response device is not limited to a centralcontrol node such as an AP or a station device STA (Station). The AP orthe STA may be used as a response device in a particular period of time,or may be used as a communications device sending a measurement requestin a particular period of time.

FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of a measurement method 200 according toan embodiment of this application. The measurement method 200 mayinclude the following operations:

S210: At least two communications devices send fine timing measurementFTM request frames to a response device.

Operation S220: The response device sends a first FTM measurement frameaccording to the FTM request frame, where the first FTM measurementframe includes a measurement parameter used to indicate each of the atleast two communications devices and identifier information used toindicate each communications device.

Operation S230: Each communications device obtains the correspondingmeasurement parameter according to the identifier information.

Specifically, the at least two communications devices may send the FTMrequest frames to the response device. After the response devicereceives the FTM request frames sent by the at least two communicationsdevices, the response device may broadcast the first FTM measurementframe to the at least two communications devices. The first FTMmeasurement frame includes the measurement parameter of eachcommunications device and the identifier information used to indicateeach communications device. Optionally, the identifier information mayinclude a MAC address or an association identifier AID. The identifierinformation may be a MAC address of the communications device or an AIDof the communications device. After receiving the first FTM measurementframe, each communications device may obtain the measurement parameterof each communications device by using the identifier information, sothat FTM measurement can be performed on each communications deviceaccording to the obtained measurement parameter.

Using two communications devices as an example, the two communicationsdevices may be a first communications device and a second communicationsdevice. The first communications device and the second communicationsdevice separately send an FTM request frame to the response device.After receiving the two FTM request frames, the response device maybroadcast a first FTM measurement frame to the two communicationsdevices. The FTM measurement frame includes a first measurementparameter of the first communications device, a second measurementparameter of the second communications device, first identifierinformation used to indicate the first communications device, and secondidentifier information used to indicate the second communicationsdevice. Optionally, the first identifier information may be a MACaddress of the first communications device, and the second identifierinformation may be a MAC address of the second communications device.After receiving the first FTM measurement frame, the firstcommunications device may obtain the first measurement parameter of thefirst communications device according to the first identifierinformation. Similarly, the second communications device may also obtainthe second measurement parameter of the second communications deviceaccording to the second identifier information. The first communicationsdevice and the second communications device can learn of the respectivemeasurement parameters by receiving a same FTM measurement frame, toperform FTM measurement. By sending one FTM measurement frame, theresponse device can enable the two communications devices to obtainrespective required measurement parameters, and different from the priorart, the response device does not need to separately send a first FTMmeasurement frame to the first communications device and the secondcommunications device. If multiple communications devices are measured,the multiple communications devices can learn of respective measurementparameters at the same time by receiving a same first FTM measurementframe, to perform FTM, so that a quantity of interactions times can bereduced, and the multiple communications devices are measured at thesame time, thereby improving measurement efficiency.

From the perspective of the response device, the execution body may bethe response device. The measurement method 200 may be expressed as:receiving FTM request frames sent by at least two communicationsdevices; and sending a first FTM measurement frame according to the FTMrequest frame, where the first FTM measurement frame includes ameasurement parameter of each of the at least two communications devicesand identifier information used to indicate each communications device.

Specifically, the response device may receive the FTM request framessent by the at least two communications devices, and broadcast the firstFTM measurement frame to the at least two communications devicesaccording to the FTM request frame. The first FTM measurement frame mayinclude the measurement parameter of each of the at least twocommunications devices and the identifier information used to indicateeach communications device. After receiving multiple FTM requests, theresponse device may broadcast the first FTM measurement frame to themultiple communications devices, so that a quantity of interactions canbe reduced, and the multiple communications devices are measured at thesame time, thereby shortening measurement duration and improvingmeasurement efficiency.

From the perspective of a communications device, the execution body maybe the first communications device in the at least two communicationsdevices, or may be a measurement apparatus in the communications device,or may be a network system controlling the communications device. Usingan example in which the first communications device is used as theexecution body, the measurement method 200 may also be expressed as:sending, by the first communications device, an FTM request frame to aresponse device; receiving, by the first communications device, a firstFTM measurement frame that is sent by the response device according tothe FTM request frame, where the first FTM measurement frame includes ameasurement parameter of each of the at least two communicationsdevices, and the first FTM measurement frame further includes identifierinformation used to indicate each communications device; and obtaining,by the first communications device, the measurement parameter of thefirst communications device in the at least two communications devicesaccording to the identifier information.

Specifically, the first communications device may send the FTM requestframe to the response device, and the first communications device mayfurther receive the first FTM measurement frame that is sent by theresponse device according to the FTM request frame, where the first FTMmeasurement frame may include measurement parameters of multiplecommunications devices and identifier information of the multiplecommunications devices. The multiple communications devices include thefirst communications device. For example, the first FTM measurementframe includes a first measurement parameter and first identifierinformation of the first communications device, and may further includemeasurement parameters and identifier information of othercommunications devices such as second and third communications devices.After receiving the first FTM measurement frame, the firstcommunications device may obtain, according to the first identifierinformation, the first measurement parameter corresponding to the firstcommunications device, so that FTM measurement can be performed on thefirst communications device according to the first measurementparameter.

The response device in the measurement method 200 may receive an FTMrequest frame sent by a communications device, and the FTM request frameis used to request to perform FTM measurement. It should be understoodthat, the response device may also receive a request frame in anotherform that is sent by a communications device and that is used to requestto perform FTM measurement, or a network system sends, to the responsedevice, indication information used to instruct the communicationsdevice and the response device to perform FTM measurement, or anapplication layer above a MAC layer sends, to the response device,indication information used to instruct the communications device andthe response device to perform FTM measurement. That the response devicereceives the FTM request frame sent by the communications device is onlya preferred implementation of this application.

It should be understood that, regardless of whether the measurementmethod 200 is described from the perspective of the communicationsdevice or the measurement method 200 is described from the perspectiveof the response device, the measurement method essentially describesthat the first FTM measurement frame can be sent in a one-to-manymanner, instead of sending an FTM measurement frame in a one-to-onemanner as in the prior art, so that interaction processes can be reducedto save a channel resource, and FTM measurement can be performed onmultiple communications devices at the same time, thereby reducing ameasurement time and improving measurement efficiency.

Optionally, as shown in FIG. 3, the measurement method may furtherinclude:

Operation S240: Receive response information that is sent by each of theat least two communications devices according to the first FTMmeasurement frame to the response device.

Operation S250: The response device sends a second FTM measurementframe, where the second FTM measurement frame includes a sending momentof the first FTM measurement frame, a receiving moment of the responseinformation of each communications device, and the identifierinformation.

Operation S260: Each communications device obtains a correspondingreceiving moment according to the identifier information.

Specifically, the response information may be acknowledgementinformation ACK (Acknowledgement) or may be other information, such as aNDP, used to perform FTM measurement. In the method, ACK is used as anexample. The response device may send the first FTM measurement frame;each communications device may receive the first FTM measurement frameand send ACK to the response device; and the response device receive theACK sent by each communications device. The response device maybroadcast the second FTM measurement frame to each communicationsdevice. The second FTM measurement frame includes the sending moment ofsending the first FTM measurement frame by the response device, areceiving moment of receiving each piece of acknowledgement information,and the identifier information. After receiving the second FTMmeasurement frame, each communications device obtains, according to theidentifier information, the receiving moment corresponding to eachcommunications device. The receiving moment corresponding to eachcommunications device is a receiving moment of receiving, by theresponse device, the response information sent by the communicationsdevice.

As shown in FIG. 3, using two communications devices as an example, thetwo communications devices may be a first communications device and asecond communications device. The first communications device and thesecond communications device separately send an FTM request frame to theresponse device. After receiving the two FTM request frames, theresponse device may broadcast a first FTM measurement frame, and amoment of sending the first FTM measurement frame by the response deviceis T₁. The first FTM measurement frame may include a first measurementparameter of the first communications device, a second measurementparameter of the second communications device, first identifierinformation used to indicate the first communications device, and secondidentifier information used to indicate the second communicationsdevice. After receiving the first FTM measurement frame, the firstcommunications device may obtain the first measurement parameter of thefirst communications device according to the first identifierinformation. A moment of receiving the first FTM measurement frame bythe first communications device is T₂. The first communications devicesends first ACK to the response device, and a moment of sending thefirst ACK by the first communications device is T₃. The response devicereceives the first ACK sent by the first communications device, and amoment of receiving the first ACK is T₄. After receiving the first FTMmeasurement frame, the second communications device may obtain thesecond measurement parameter of the second communications deviceaccording to the second identifier information. A moment of receivingthe first FTM measurement frame by the second communications device isT₅. The second communications device sends second ACK to a responsedevice, and a moment of sending the second ACK by the secondcommunications device is T₆. The response device receives the second ACKsent by the first communications device, and a moment of receiving thesecond ACK is T₇. After receiving the first ACK and the second ACK, theresponse device may broadcast a second FTM measurement frame to thefirst communications device and the second communications device. Thesecond FTM measurement frame includes the sending moment T₁, thereceiving moment T₄, the receiving moment T₇, the first identifierinformation, and the second identifier information. After receiving thesecond FTM measurement frame, the first communications device can learnof, by using the first identifier information, the receiving moment T₄corresponding to the first communications device. Similarly, the secondcommunications device can learn of the receiving moment T₇ correspondingto the second communications device. The sending moment T₁ is used as acommon part and is obtained by the first communications device and thesecond communications device at the same time. It can be learnedaccording to a formula (1) that, by means of the method, a distancebetween the first communications device and the response device can beobtained; and similarly, a distance between second communications deviceand the response device can be obtained:

$\begin{matrix}{d = {\frac{\left( {T_{4} - T_{1}} \right) - \left( {T_{3} - T_{2}} \right)}{2} \cdot C}} & (1)\end{matrix}$

where C is a transmission speed of a radio wave, and usually, C=3*10⁸m/s.

It should be understood that, in the measurement method 200, only twocommunications devices are used as an example. In the measurementmethod, FTM measurement may be performed on multiple communicationsdevices at the same time.

It should be understood that, in the measurement method 200, eachcommunications device may send at least one FTM measurement requestframe to the response device, to ensure that the response device canreceive the FTM measurement request sent by the communications device.Similarly, the response device may also broadcast at least one first FTMmeasurement frame and at least one second FTM measurement frame, toensure that each communications device can receive the FTM measurementframe that is broadcast by the response device.

It should be understood that, the response device may record the sendingmoment of sending the first FTM measurement frame and the receivingmoment of receiving the ACK, or another timing device may record thecorresponding moments. Similarly, the communications device may recordthe receiving moment of receiving the first FTM measurement frame andthe sending moment of sending the ACK, or another timing device mayrecord the corresponding moments. This is not limited in thisapplication herein.

As a result, the response device can broadcast the first FTM measurementframe, instead of sending multiple first FTM measurement frames, so thatthe first FTM measurement frame is sent in a one-to-many manner. Theresponse device can broadcast the second FTM measurement frame, insteadof sending multiple second FTM measurement frames, so that the secondFTM measurement frame is sent in a one-to-many manner. Therefore, FTMcan be performed on the multiple communications devices at the sametime, and interaction processes can further be reduced, therebyimproving measurement efficiency.

Optionally, in the measurement method 200, there is a correspondencebetween a sequence of the identifier information of each communicationsdevice and a sequence of sending the response information by eachcommunications device after each communications device receives thefirst FTM measurement frame.

Specifically, the sequence of the identifier information of eachcommunications device may be a sequence of the identifier information ofeach communications device in the identifier information of all thecommunications devices, and a sequence of sending the responseinformation by each communications device after each communicationsdevice receives the first FTM measurement frame may be a sequence ofsending the response information by each communications device aftereach communications device receives the first FTM measurement frame.Assuming that sequences of identifier information of threecommunications devices C1, C2, and C3 in the first FTM measurement frameare sequentially 3, 2, and 1, sequences of feeding back responseinformation by the three communications devices after the threecommunications devices receive the first FTM measurement frame may bethat C3 performs sending first, C2 performs sending second, and C1performs sending at last; or sequences of sending response informationby the three communications devices after the three communicationsdevices receive the first FTM measurement frame may be that C1 performssending first, C2 performs sending second, and C3 performs sending atlast. It should be understood that, in the method 200, the sequence ofthe identifier information of each communications device and thesequence of sending the response information by each communicationsdevice after each communications device receives the first FTMmeasurement frame may be the same or may be reverse or may be in anothercorrespondence. This is not limited in this application herein.

It should be understood that, the identifier information may be rankedaccording to MAC addresses, or the identifier information of thecommunications devices may be ranked according to sequences of receivingthe FTM request frames of the communications devices by the responsedevice. How to rank the identifier information is not limited in thisapplication herein.

Optionally, in the measurement method 200, the first FTM measurementframe may include feedback indication information, and the feedbackindication information is used to indicate a time interval at which eachcommunications device sends the response information after eachcommunications device receives the first FTM measurement frame.

Specifically, for example, ACK is used as the response information.Assuming that three communications devices are respectively C1, C2, andC3, the three communications devices separately send an FTM requestframe to the response device. After receiving the request frames of thethree communications devices, the response device may broadcast a firstFTM measurement frame to the three communications devices. The first FTMmeasurement frame includes identifier information of the threecommunications devices, measurement parameters of the threecommunications devices, and feedback indication information. Afterreceiving the first FTM measurement frame, the three communicationsdevices may obtain, by using the identifier information, measurementparameters corresponding to the three communications devices, and learn,according to an indication of the feedback indication information, whento send ACK to the response device. A quantity of the feedbackindication information corresponds to a quantity of the at least twocommunications devices, that is, different communications devicescorrespond to different feedback indication information, so that thecommunications device obtains, according to the feedback indicationinformation, a moment of sending the response information by thecommunications device. For example, if first feedback indicationinformation of C1 is 100 us, second feedback indication information ofC2 is 200 us, and third feedback indication information of C3 is 350 us,C1 sends ACK to the response device after an interval of 100 us afterreceiving the first FTM measurement frame; C2 sends ACK to the responsedevice after an interval of 200 us after receiving the first FTMmeasurement frame; and C3 sends ACK to the response device after aninterval of 350 us after receiving the first FTM measurement frame. Thethree communications devices sequentially send the acknowledgementinformation to the response device in chronological order, therebypreventing an information transmission failure caused by a transmissioncollision, and improving measurement efficiency.

Optionally, in the measurement method 200, the first FTM measurementframe includes feedback indication information, and the feedbackindication information is used to indicate a time interval at which eachcommunications device feeds back response information after eachcommunications device receives the first FTM measurement frame.

Specifically, assuming that there are three communications devices C1,C2, and C3, the feedback indication information may indicate thatintervals at which the three communications devices feed back responseinformation are a fixed value T, that is, the three communicationsdevices share one piece of feedback indication information. Assumingthat sequences of sequentially feeding back the response information bythe three communications devices are C2, C1, and C3, after the threecommunications devices receive the first FTM measurement frame, C2 feedsback the response information first, C1 feeds back the responseinformation after a time interval of T after C2 feeds back the responseinformation, and C3 feeds back the response information after a timeinterval of T after C1 feeds back the response information. That is, C2may feed back the response information first, C1 may feed back theresponse information after a time interval of T, and C3 may feed backthe response information after a time interval of 2T. Optionally, the atleast two communications devices feed back first pieces of responseinformation after a short interframe space SIFS after receiving thefirst FTM measurement frame. For example, C1 sends the responseinformation after a time of an SIFS after receiving the first FTMmeasurement frame, C2 feeds back the response information after a timeof an SIFS+T after receiving the first FTM measurement frame, and C3feeds back the response information after a time of an SIFS+2T afterreceiving the first FTM measurement frame. T may be an SIFS+T_(ACK), theshort interframe space SIFS (Short interframe space) may be 16 us, andT_(ACK) is a time of sending or receiving one piece of acknowledgementinformation and may be 40 us.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an action field in an FTM measurementframe. In the measurement method 200, the FTM measurement frame shown inFIG. 4 may be a first FTM measurement frame. As shown in FIG. 4, acategory field is used to indicate a type of an action frame; a publicaction field closely follows the category field and is used todistinguish between different public action frame formats; a time ofdeparture TOD is used to carry a sending time; a TOD error is used toindicate time precision; a time of arrival TOA is used to carry areceiving time; a TOA error is used to indicate time precision; and afine timing measurement parameter field is used to carry an FTMmeasurement parameter. The first FTM measurement frame may be understoodas a measurement frame including public information and dedicatedinformation. The public information is information that can be shared bymultiple communications devices, and the dedicated information isdedicated information of each communications device. The dedicatedinformation may include a measurement parameter of each communicationsdevice. As shown in FIG. 4, if feedback indication information isseparately inserted into the dedicated information, the feedbackindication information may indicate an interval at which eachcommunications device feeds back response information after eachcommunications device receives the first FTM measurement frame. If thefeedback indication information is inserted into the public information,the feedback indication information is used to indicate a time intervalat which each communications device feed back the response informationafter each communications device receives the first FTM measurementframe. It should be understood that, locations at which the feedbackindication information is inserted into dedicated parts may be the sameor may be different. This is not limited in this application herein.Similarly, a location at which the feedback indication information isinserted into the public information may be not limited either.

The multiple communications devices may sequentially send the responseinformation to the response device at a corresponding time intervalaccording to the feedback indication information, so that an informationtransmission failure caused by a transmission collision can beprevented, and the acknowledgement information can be accurately andefficiently fed back to the response device, thereby improvingmeasurement efficiency.

Optionally, in the measurement method 200, at least one of the FTMrequest frame or the first FTM measurement frame may include functionindication information used to indicate that the communications devicesupports multi-user measurement. That is, the FTM request frame mayinclude the function indication information; or the first FTMmeasurement frame may include the function indication information; orboth the FTM request frame and the first FTM measurement frame includethe function indication information.

The function indication information may be carried in the measurementparameter field. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the measurementparameter field (e.g., Fine Timing Measurement Parameters Field Format).As shown in FIG. 5, the measurement parameter field may include a statusindication used to indicate a request success or failure; a value usedto set a time length; reserved (e.g., Reserved); the number ofmeasurement groups (e.g., Number of bursts exponent) used to indicate aquantity of measurement groups; duration (e.g., Burst Duration): a timethat lasts; an FTM interval (e.g., Min Deltan FTM) used to indicate atime interval between two consecutive FTM measurement frames; partialtiming (e.g., Partial TSF timer) used to indicate a time of sending afirst FTM measurement frame by a response device after the responsedevice receives an FTM request; a function indication (e.g., ASAPcapable) used to indicate whether a time stamp of the first FTMmeasurement frame can be obtained and fed back in a subsequent FTMframe; ASAP used to indicate whether FTM measurement is expected tostart as soon as possible; a quantity of times (e.g., FTMs per burst)used to indicate a quantity of times of performing FTM measurementduring measurement on one group; an FTM format and bandwidth used toindicate an FTM frame type and an occupied bandwidth (for example, thetype is an 11n type or an 11ac type, and the bandwidth is 20 M, or 40 M,or 80 M); and a measurement group period (e.g., Burst period) used toindicate duration of a measurement group (burst).

The response device or the communications device can learn, by using thefunction indication information, whether the opposite party can performa many-to-one measurement operation, thereby preventing the responsedevice from blindly sending the first FTM measurement frame orpreventing the communications device from blindly sending the FTMrequest frame.

Optionally, in the measurement method 200, the FTM measurement frameshown in FIG. 4 may be a first FTM measurement frame. As shown in FIG.4, the first FTM measurement frame may further include at least one ofquantity information or message length information. The quantityinformation is used to indicate a quantity of the at least twocommunications devices; and the message length information is used toindicate a length occupied by each of time information and parameterinformation of each communications device, or the message lengthinformation is used to indicate a length occupied by time information orother information of each communications device.

Each communications device can learn of the specific quantity of the atleast two communications devices by using the quantity information, sothat each communications device can estimate, according to the quantityinformation with reference to a factor such as a sending sequence ofeach communications device or a time interval, a time of performing FTMmeasurement by each communications device and estimate a waiting timefor measurement, so as to prevent the communications device from blindlysending the response information to cause an information sending failureor from blindly waiting for measurement, thereby improving measurementefficiency. Each communications device can more rapidly find, by usingthe message length information, information (the time information or themeasurement parameter) required by each communications device, therebyimproving measurement efficiency.

In the foregoing descriptions, the multiple communications devices sendsthe FTM request frames to the response device, and the response devicemay broadcast at least one of the first FTM measurement frame or thesecond FTM measurement frame to multiple communications devices, so asto measure the multiple communications devices at the same time.However, in an actual application scenario, before sending the secondFTM measurement frame to the communications device, the response devicemay receive an FTM request frame sent by another communications device.A measurement method in this scenario is specifically described below.

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a measurement method according toanother embodiment of this application. As shown in FIG. 6, themeasurement method may include the following operations:

Operation S310: At least one first communications device sends a firstFTM request frame to a response device.

Operation S320: The response device sends a first FTM measurement frameaccording to the first FTM request frame.

Operation S330: The at least one first communications device sendsresponse information to the response device.

Operation S340: At least one second communications device sends a secondFTM request frame to the response device.

Operation S350: The response device sends a second FTM measurementframe, where the second FTM measurement frame includes first identifierinformation used to indicate the first communications device, a sendingmoment of sending the first FTM measurement frame by the responsedevice, a receiving moment of receiving, by the response device,response information sent by each of the at least one firstcommunications device, second identifier information used to indicateeach of the at least one second communications device, and a measurementparameter of each second communications device.

Operation S360: Each first communications device obtains a correspondingreceiving moment according to the first identifier information, and eachsecond communications device obtains the corresponding measurementparameter according to the second identifier information.

Specifically, the response information may be acknowledgementinformation ACK (Acknowledgement) or may be a NDP. In the method, ACK isused as an example. The at least one first communications device maysend the first FTM request frame to the response device. After receivingthe first FTM request frame, the response device may send the first FTMmeasurement frame according to the first FTM request frame. Afterreceiving the first FTM measurement frame, the at least one firstcommunications device may separately send ACK to the response device.The response device receives the ACK. After the response device sendsthe first FTM measurement frame and before the response device sends thesecond FTM measurement frame, the response device may receive the secondFTM request frame sent by the at least one second communications device.In this case, the response device may broadcast one second FTMmeasurement frame to the at least one first communications device andthe at least one second communications device. The second FTMmeasurement frame may include the first identifier information used toindicate each of the at least one first communications device, thesending moment of sending the first FTM measurement frame by theresponse device, a receiving moment of receiving, by the responsedevice, the ACK sent by each first communications device, themeasurement parameter of each of the at least one second communicationsdevice, and the second identifier information used to indicate eachsecond communications device. Each first communications device obtains,according to the first identifier information, time information (thesending moment and the receiving moment) corresponding to each firstcommunications device, and each second communications device obtains,according to the second identifier information, the measurementparameter corresponding to each second communications device. Thecorresponding receiving moment obtained by the first communicationsdevice is the receiving moment of receiving, by the response device, theACK sent by first communications device. Optionally, both the firstidentifier information and the second identifier information may includea MAC address or an AID. The first identifier information may be a MACaddress of the first communications device or an AID of the firstcommunications device; and the second identifier information may be aMAC address of the second communications device or an AID of the secondcommunications device.

It should be understood that, if there are multiple first communicationsdevices, the sending moment of sending the first FTM measurement frameby the response device is used as public information and obtained by allof the multiple first communications devices. Therefore, the firstcommunications device obtains, according to the first identifierinformation, the receiving moment corresponding to the firstcommunications device.

As shown in FIG. 6, one first communications device and one secondcommunications device are used as an example. The first communicationsdevice may send a first FTM request frame to the response device. Afterreceiving the first FTM request frame, the response device may send afirst FTM measurement frame to the first communications device, and amoment of sending the first FTM measurement frame by the response deviceis T₁. After receiving the first FTM measurement frame, the firstcommunications device sends ACK to the response device, a moment ofreceiving the first FTM measurement frame by the communications deviceis T₂, and a moment of sending the ACK by the first communicationsdevice is T₃. The response device receives the ACK, and a moment ofreceiving the ACK by the response device is T₄. After sending the firstFTM measurement frame and before sending a second FTM measurement frame,the response device receives a second FTM request frame sent by thesecond communications device. After receiving the second FTM requestframe, the response device may broadcast the second FTM measurementframe to the first communications device and the second communicationsdevice. The second FTM measurement frame includes the sending moment T₁,the receiving moment T₄, first identifier information used to indicatethe first communications device, a measurement parameter of the secondcommunications device, and second identifier information used toindicate the second communications device. After receiving the secondFTM measurement frame, the first communications device can learn of thesending moment T₁ and the receiving moment T₄ according to the firstidentifier information; and the second communications device may obtainthe measurement parameter according to the second identifierinformation, to perform FTM.

The second FTM measurement frame is received, so that the firstcommunications device can learn of time information (that is, thesending moment T₁ and the receiving moment T₄) corresponding to thefirst communications device, and further the second communicationsdevice can learn of the measurement parameter corresponding to thesecond communications device. By sending one second FTM measurementframe, the response device can enable the first communications deviceand the second communications device to obtain respective requiredinformation, and does not need to send multiple FTM measurement framesas in the prior art. Therefore, interaction processes can be reduced tosave a channel resource, and FTM measurement can be performed onmultiple communications devices at the same time, thereby reducing ameasurement time and improving measurement efficiency.

It should be understood that, in the measurement method 300, theresponse device may first receive a first FTM request frame of one firstcommunications device, and then receive a second FTM request frame ofone second communications device; or the response device may firstreceive a first FTM request frame of one first communications device,and then receive second FTM request frames of multiple secondcommunications devices; or the response device may first receive firstFTM request frames of multiple first communications devices, and thenreceive a second FTM request frame of one second communications device;or the response device may first receive first FTM request frames ofmultiple first communications devices, and then receive second FTMrequest frames of multiple second communications devices. This is notlimited in this application herein.

It should be understood that, the FTM measurement frame of the responsedevice includes the identifier information of the multiplecommunications devices, so that the multiple communications devicesobtain corresponding information, or after receiving the FTM measurementframe, the communications device determines, according to the identifierinformation of the communications device, information that needs to beobtained by the communications device. In both manners, the methodprovided in this embodiment of this application can be used to performFTM.

Optionally, in the method 300, the first FTM measurement frame mayinclude a measurement parameter of each of the at least one firstcommunications device and the first identifier information used toindicate each first communications device, so that each firstcommunications device obtains, according to the first identifierinformation, the measurement parameter corresponding to each firstcommunications device.

Specifically, if the response device receives only a first FTM requestframe sent by one first communications device, the response device maysend the first FTM measurement frame to the first communications devicein a unicast manner or a broadcast manner. If the response devicereceives multiple first FTM request frames sent by multiple firstcommunications devices, the response device may directly broadcast thefirst FTM measurement frame. In this case, the first FTM measurementframe may include a measurement parameter of each of the multiple firstcommunications devices and first identifier information, or the firstFTM measurement frame may include neither the measurement parameter northe first identifier information. Alternatively, the response device maysend the first FTM measurement frame to the multiple firstcommunications devices one to one as in the prior art. This is notlimited in this application herein.

Optionally, in the measurement method 300, there is a correspondencebetween a sequence of the second identifier information of each of theat least one second communications device and a sequence of feeding backthe response information by each second communications device after eachsecond communications device receives the second FTM measurement frame.

Specifically, assuming that sequences of second identifier informationof three second communications devices C1, C2, and C3 in the second FTMmeasurement frame are sequentially 3, 2, and 1, sequences of feedingback response information by the three second communications devicesafter the three second communications devices receive the second FTMmeasurement frame may be that C3 performs sending first, C2 performssending second, and C1 performs sending at last, or sequences of feedingback response information by the three second communications devicesafter the three second communications devices receive the second FTMmeasurement frame may be that C1 performs sending first, C2 performssending second, and C3 performs sending at last.

It should be understood that, in this application, the sequence of theidentifier information of each second communications device and thesequence of feeding back the response information by each secondcommunications device after each second communications device receivesthe second FTM measurement frame may be the same or may be reverse or inanother correspondence. This is not limited in this application herein.

It should be understood that, the second identifier information may beranked according to MAC addresses, or the identifier information of thecommunications devices may be ranked according to sequences of receivingthe FTM request frames of the second communications devices by theresponse device. How to rank the identifier information is not limitedin this application herein.

It should be understood that, in this application, for a sending momentand a receiving moment, the moments should be limited according to aspecific sending object and receiving object.

Optionally, in the measurement method 300, the second FTM measurementframe may include feedback indication information, and the feedbackindication information is used to indicate a time interval at which eachof the at least one second communications device feeds back the responseinformation after each of the at least one second communications devicereceives the second FTM measurement frame.

Specifically, for example, ACK is used as the response information.Assuming that three second communications devices are respectively C1,C2, and C3, the three communications devices separately send a secondFTM request frame to the response device. After receiving the second FTMrequest frames of the three communications devices, the response devicebroadcasts a second FTM measurement frame. The second FTM measurementframe includes the first identifier information used to indicate eachfirst communications device, a sending moment of sending the first FTMmeasurement frame by the response device, a receiving moment ofreceiving ACK of each first communications device by the responsedevice, respective measurement parameters of the three secondcommunications devices, second identifier information used to indicatethe three second communications devices, and feedback indicationinformation. After receiving the second FTM measurement frame, the threesecond communications devices may separately obtain a correspondingmeasurement parameter by using the second identifier information, andlearn, according to an indication of the feedback indicationinformation, when to send the ACK to the response device. For example,if first feedback indication information of C1 is 100 us, secondfeedback indication information of C2 is 200 us, and third feedbackindication information of C3 is 350 us, C1 sends ACK to the responsedevice after an interval of 100 us after receiving the second FTMmeasurement frame; C2 sends ACK to the response device after an intervalof 200 us after receiving the second FTM measurement frame; and C3 sendsACK to the response device after an interval of 350 us after receivingthe second FTM measurement frame. The three second communicationsdevices sequentially send the acknowledgement information to theresponse device in chronological order, thereby preventing aninformation transmission failure caused by a transmission collision, andimproving measurement efficiency.

Optionally, in the measurement method 300, the second FTM measurementframe includes feedback indication information, and the feedbackindication information is used to indicate a time interval at which eachsecond communications device feeds back the response information aftereach second communications device receives the second FTM measurementframe.

Specifically, assuming that there are three second communicationsdevices C1, C2, and C3, the feedback indication information may indicatethat intervals at which the three second communications devices feedback response information are a fixed value T, and assuming thatsequences of sequentially feeding back the response information by thethree second communications devices are C2, C1, and C3, after the threecommunications devices receive the first FTM measurement frame, C2 feedsback the response information first, C1 feeds back the responseinformation after an interval of T after C2 feeds back the responseinformation, and C3 feeds back the response information after aninterval of T after C1 feeds back the response information. Optionally,the at least two second communications devices feed back first pieces ofresponse information after a short interframe space SIFS after receivingthe second FTM measurement frame. For example, C1 sends the responseinformation after a time of an SIFS after receiving the first FTMmeasurement frame, C2 feeds back the response information after a timeof an SIFS+T after receiving the second FTM measurement frame, and C3feeds back the response information after a time of an SIFS+2T afterreceiving the second FTM measurement frame. T may be an SIFS+T_(ACK),the short interframe space SIFS may be 16 us, and T_(ACK) is a time ofsending or receiving one piece of acknowledgement information and may be40 us.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an action field in an FTM measurementframe. In the measurement method 300, the FTM measurement frame shown inFIG. 4 may be a second FTM measurement frame. As shown in FIG. 4, acategory field (Category) is used to indicate a type of an action frame;a public action field closely follows the category field and is used todistinguish between different public action frame formats; a time ofdeparture (TOD) is used to carry a sending time of the first FTMmeasurement frame; a TOD error is used to indicate time precision; atime of arrival (TOA) is used to carry a time of receiving each piece ofacknowledgement information by the response device; a TOA error is usedto indicate time precision; and a fine timing measurement parameterfield is used to carry an FTM measurement parameter. Optionally, thesecond FTM measurement frame may be understood as including publicinformation and dedicated information. The public information isinformation that can be shared by multiple communications devices, andthe dedicated information is dedicated information of eachcommunications device. The dedicated information may include timeinformation (for example, the sending moment of sending the FTMmeasurement frame and the receiving moment of receiving the responseinformation) and the identifier information of the first communicationsdevice, and the measurement parameter and the identifier information ofthe second communications device. If the feedback indication informationis separately inserted into the dedicated information, the feedbackindication information may indicate an interval at which each secondcommunications device feeds back the response information after eachsecond communications device receives the second FTM measurement frame.If the feedback indication information is inserted into the publicinformation, the feedback indication information is used to indicate atime interval at which each second communications device feeds back theresponse information after each second communications device receivesthe second FTM measurement frame. It should be understood that,locations at which the feedback indication information is inserted intodedicated parts may be the same or may be different. This is not limitedin this application herein. Similarly, a location at which the feedbackindication information is inserted into the public information may benot limited either.

The multiple second communications devices may sequentially send theresponse information to the response device at a fixed time interval orat a determined moment according to an indication of the feedbackindication information, so that an information transmission failurecaused by a transmission collision can be prevented, and theacknowledgement information can be accurately and efficiently fed backto the response device, thereby improving measurement efficiency.

Optionally, at least one of the first FTM request frame, the second FTMrequest frame, the first FTM measurement frame, or the second FTMmeasurement frame may include function indication information used toindicate that the communications device supports multi-user measurement.

The response device or the communications device can learn, by using thefunction indication information, whether the opposite party can performa many-to-one measurement operation, thereby preventing the responsedevice from blindly sending the corresponding FTM measurement frame orpreventing the communications device from blindly sending the FTMrequest frame.

Optionally, the second FTM measurement frame further includes at leastone of quantity information or message length information. The quantityinformation is used to indicate a sum of a quantity of the firstcommunications devices and a quantity of the second communicationsdevices; and the message length information is used to indicate a lengthoccupied by each of time information and parameter information of eachfirst communications device and each second communications device.

Each second communications device can learn of the sum of the quantityof the first communications devices and the quantity of the secondcommunications devices by using the quantity information, so that eachsecond communications device can estimate, according to the quantityinformation with reference to a factor such as a sending sequence ofeach second communications device or a time interval, duration ofperforming FTM measurement, and if the second communications deviceestimates that the second communications device needs to wait for a verylong time, may send a request again to perform FTM measurement withanother response device, or does not perform FTM currently. Each secondcommunications device can estimate a moment of feeding back the responseinformation by each second communications device, so as to prevent thecommunications device from blindly feeding back the acknowledgementinformation, thereby improving measurement efficiency. Each firstcommunications device can more conveniently find the time information ofeach first communications device by using the message lengthinformation, so that each second communications device can more rapidlyfind the measurement parameter of each second communications device,thereby improving measurement efficiency.

The foregoing mainly describes that the time information is obtained byexchanging the acknowledgement information. To improve measurementprecision, the measurement precision can be improved by exchanging NDPs.As shown in FIG. 7,

Operation S410: At least one first communications device sends a firstFTM request frame to a response device.

Operation S420: The response device sends a first FTM measurement frameaccording to the first FTM request frame, where the first FTMmeasurement frame includes a measurement parameter of each of the atleast one first communications device and identifier information used toindicate each first communications device.

Operation S430: Each first communications device obtains, according tothe identifier information, a measurement parameter corresponding toeach first communications device.

Operation S440: The response device broadcasts a first NDP to the atleast one first communications device.

Operation S450: After receiving the first NDP, the at least one firstcommunications device sends a second NDP to the response device.

Operation S460: At least one second communications device sends a secondFTM request frame to the response device.

Operation S470: The response device sends a second FTM measurementframe, where the second FTM measurement frame includes first identifierinformation used to indicate each first communications device, a sendingmoment of sending the first NDP by the response device, a receivingmoment of receiving at least one second NDP by the response device, ameasurement parameter of each of the at least one second communicationsdevice, and second identifier information used to indicate each secondcommunications device.

Operation S480: Each first communications device obtains, according tothe first identifier information, a receiving moment corresponding toeach first communications device; and each second communications deviceobtains, according to the second identifier information, the measurementparameter corresponding to each second communications device.

Specifically, two first communications devices and one secondcommunications device are used as an example. The response device mayreceive first FTM request frames sent by the two first communicationsdevices, and broadcast a first FTM measurement frame according to thefirst FTM request frame, so that the two first communications devicesrespectively learn of measurement parameters of the two firstcommunications devices. After sending the first FTM measurement frame,the response device broadcasts a first NDP, and a sending moment ofsending the first FTM measurement frame by the response device is T₁.The two first communications devices receive the first NDP, and momentsof receiving the first NDP by the two first communications devices arerespectively T₂ and T₅. The two first communications devices separatelysend a second NDP to the response device, and moments of sending thesecond NDPs by the two first communications devices are respectively T₃and T₆. The second communications device sends a second FTM requestframe to the response device. After receiving the second FTM requestframe and the two second NDPs, the response device may broadcast asecond FTM measurement frame to the two first communications devices andthe second communications device. The second FTM measurement frameincludes the sending moment T₁ of sending the first NDP by the responsedevice, receiving moments T₄ and T₇ of respectively receiving the twosecond NDPs by the response device, respective first identifierinformation of the two first communications devices, a measurementparameter of the second communications device, and second identifierinformation used to indicate the second communications device. Afterreceiving the second FTM measurement frame, the two first communicationsdevices may obtain, according to the respective first identifierinformation, the sending moment of sending the first FTM measurementframe by the response device, and the receiving moments (T₁, T₄) ofreceiving, by the response device, the second NDPs sent by the two firstcommunications devices. The first communications device may obtain adistance between the first communications device and the response devicewith reference to the sending moment, the receiving moment of receivingthe second NDP of the first communications device by the responsedevice, and a receiving moment of receiving the first FTM measurementframe and the sending moment of sending the second NDP that are recordedby the first communications device. In addition, after receiving thesecond FTM measurement frame, the second communications device mayobtain the measurement parameter according to the second identifierinformation of the second communications device, to perform FTM.Optionally, both the first identifier information and the secondidentifier information may include a MAC address or an AID. The firstidentifier information may be a MAC address of the first communicationsdevice or an AID of the first communications device; and the secondidentifier information may be a MAC address of the second communicationsdevice or an AID of the first communications device.

Optionally, the first FTM measurement frame may include feedbackindication information, and the second FTM measurement frame may alsoinclude feedback indication information. In the first FTM measurementframe, the feedback indication information is used to indicate a timeinterval at which each first communications device sends the second NDPafter each first communications device receives the first NDP. In thesecond FTM measurement frame, the feedback indication information isused to indicate a time interval at which each second communicationsdevice sends response information after each second communicationsdevice receives the second FTM measurement frame.

Optionally, in the first FTM measurement frame, there is acorrespondence between a sequence of the first identifier information ofeach first communications device and a sequence of sending the secondNDP by each first communications device after each first communicationsdevice receives the first NDP. In the second FTM measurement frame,there is a correspondence between a sequence of the second identifierinformation of each second communications device and a sequence ofsending the response information by each second communications deviceafter each second communications device receives the second FTMmeasurement frame.

Optionally, the first FTM measurement frame includes feedback indicationinformation, and the feedback indication information is used to indicatea time interval at which each communications device feeds back responseinformation after each first communications device receives the firstFTM measurement frame.

Optionally, at least one of the first FTM request frame, the second FTMrequest frame, the first FTM measurement frame, or the second FTMmeasurement frame may include function indication information used toindicate that the communications device supports multi-user measurement.

The response device or the communications device can learn, by using thefunction indication information, whether the opposite party can performa many-to-one measurement operation, thereby preventing the responsedevice from blindly sending the corresponding FTM measurement frame orpreventing the communications device from blindly sending the FTMrequest frame.

Optionally, the second FTM measurement frame further includes at leastone of quantity information or message length information. The quantityinformation is used to indicate a sum of a quantity of the firstcommunications devices and a quantity of the second communicationsdevices; and the message length information is used to indicate a lengthoccupied by each of time information and parameter information of eachfirst communications device and each second communications device.

The response device may send one first FTM measurement frame instead ofmultiple first FTM measurement frames, send one second FTM measurementframe instead of multiple second FTM measurement frames, so thatinteraction processes can be reduced to improve measurement efficiency,and corresponding time information is obtained by exchanging NDPs toimprove measurement precision, thereby improving measurement accuracy.

The FTM method is described above, and correspondingly, a communicationsdevice using the method to perform measurement is described below.

As shown in FIG. 8, an embodiment of this application provides acommunications device 500. Generally, a terminal having a Wi-Fi functionsuch as a smart terminal or an access point AP may be used as themeasurement apparatus 500. The communications device 500 may include:

a receiving module 510, configured to receive fine timing measurementFTM request frames sent by at least two communications stations; and

a sending module 520, configured to send a first FTM measurement frameaccording to the FTM request frame, where the first FTM measurementframe includes a measurement parameter of each of the at least twocommunications stations and identifier information used to indicate eachcommunications station, so that each communications station obtains themeasurement parameter according to the identifier information.

Optionally, the first FTM measurement frame includes feedback indicationinformation, and the feedback indication information is used to indicatea time interval at which each communications station sends responseinformation after each communications station receives the first FTMmeasurement frame.

Optionally, the receiving module 510 is further configured to receivethe response information that is sent by each communications stationaccording to the first FTM measurement frame. The sending module 520 isfurther configured to send a second FTM measurement frame to the atleast two communications stations, where the second FTM measurementframe includes a sending moment of sending the first FTM measurementframe by the communications device, a receiving moment of the responseinformation sent by each communications station, and the identifierinformation, so that each communications station obtains a correspondingreceiving moment according to the identifier information.

Optionally, there is a correspondence between a sequence of theidentifier information of each communications station and a sequence ofsending the response information by each communications station aftereach communications station receives the first FTM measurement frame.

Optionally, the identifier information includes a MAC address or an AID.

Optionally, at least one of the FTM request frame or the first FTMmeasurement frame may include function indication information used toindicate that the communications station or the communications devicesupports multi-user measurement.

Optionally, the first FTM measurement frame sent by the sending module520 may further include at least one of quantity information or messagelength information. The quantity information is used to indicate aquantity of the at least two communications stations; and the messagelength information is used to indicate a length occupied by each of timeinformation and parameter information of each communications station, orthe message length information is used to indicate a length occupied bytime information or other information of each communications device.

It should be understood that, the communications device 500 according tothis embodiment of this application may correspond to the execution bodyof the method in the embodiments of this application, and the foregoingand other operations and/or functions of the modules in the apparatus500 are respectively for implementing corresponding procedures in themethods in FIG. 2 to FIG. 7. For brevity, details are not describedherein again.

As shown in FIG. 9, another embodiment of this application provides acommunications device 600. The communications device includes:

a receiving module 610, configured to receive a first FTM request framesent by at least one first communications device; and

a sending module 620, configured to send a first FTM measurement frameaccording to the first FTM request frame received by the receivingmodule.

The receiving module 610 is further configured to receive responseinformation that is sent by each of the at least one firstcommunications device according to the first FTM measurement frame. Thereceiving module is further configured to receive a second FTM requestframe sent by at least one second communications device. The sendingmodule is further configured to send a second FTM measurement frame,where the second FTM measurement frame includes first identifierinformation used to indicate each first communications device, a sendingmoment of sending the first FTM measurement frame by the responsedevice, a receiving moment of the response information sent by eachfirst communications device, a measurement parameter of each of the atleast one second communications device, and second identifierinformation used to indicate each second communications device, so thateach first communications device obtains a corresponding receivingmoment according to the first identifier information, and each secondcommunications device obtains the measurement parameter according to thesecond identifier information.

Optionally, the first FTM measurement frame includes a measurementparameter of each first communications device and the first identifierinformation, so that the first communications device obtains themeasurement parameter of the first communications device according tothe first identifier information.

Optionally, the second FTM measurement frame includes feedbackindication information, and the feedback indication information is usedto indicate a time interval at which each second communications devicesends response information after each second communications devicereceives the second FTM measurement frame.

Optionally, there is a correspondence between a sequence of the secondidentifier information of each second communications device and asequence of sending the response information by each secondcommunications device after each second communications device receivesthe second FTM measurement frame.

Optionally, both the first identifier information and the secondidentifier information include a MAC address or an AID.

Optionally, the second FTM measurement frame includes feedbackindication information, and the feedback indication information is usedto indicate a time interval at which each second communications devicefeeds back the response information after each second communicationsdevice receives the first FTM measurement frame.

Optionally, at least one of the FTM request frame, the first FTMmeasurement frame, or the second FTM measurement frame may includefunction indication information used to indicate that the communicationsdevice supports multi-user measurement.

Optionally, the second FTM measurement frame further includes at leastone of quantity information or message length information. The quantityinformation is used to indicate a sum of a quantity of the firstcommunications devices and a quantity of the second communicationsdevices; and the message length information is used to indicate a lengthoccupied by each of time information and parameter information of eachcommunications device, or the message length information is used toindicate a length occupied by time information or other information ofeach communications device.

It should be understood that, the communications device 600 according tothis embodiment of this application may correspond to the execution bodyof the method in the embodiments of this application, and the foregoingand other operations and/or functions of the modules in the apparatus600 are respectively for implementing corresponding procedures in themethods in FIG. 2 to FIG. 7. For brevity, details are not describedherein again.

As shown in FIG. 10, still another embodiment of this applicationprovides a communications device 700. The communications device 700includes:

a sending module 710, configured to send a fine timing measurement FTMrequest frame to a response device;

a receiving module 720, configured to receive a first FTM measurementframe that is sent by the response device according to the FTM requestframe, where the first FTM measurement frame includes a measurementparameter of each of at least two devices and identifier informationused to indicate each device; and

an obtaining module 730, configured to obtain the measurement parameterof the communications device in the at least two devices according tothe identifier information.

Optionally, the first FTM measurement frame includes feedback indicationinformation, and the feedback indication information is used to indicatea time interval at which the communications device sends responseinformation after the communications device receives the first FTMmeasurement frame.

Optionally, the sending module 710 is further configured to send theresponse information to the response device according to the first FTMmeasurement frame received by the receiving module. The receiving moduleis further configured to receive a second FTM measurement frame sent bythe response device, where the second FTM measurement frame includes asending moment of sending the first FTM measurement frame by theresponse device, a receiving moment of receiving the responseinformation of each device by the response device, and the identifierinformation.

The obtaining module 730 is further configured to obtain, according tothe identifier information, a receiving moment corresponding to thecommunications device.

Optionally, there is a correspondence between a sequence of theidentifier information of the communications device in the identifierinformation of the at least two devices and a sequence, of sending theresponse information by the communications device after thecommunications device receives the first FTM measurement frame, insending the response information by the at least two devices after theat least two devices receive the first FTM measurement frame.

Optionally, the identifier information includes a MAC address or an AID.

Optionally, the first FTM measurement frame includes feedback indicationinformation, and the feedback indication information is used to indicatea time interval at which each device feeds back the response informationafter each device receives the first FTM measurement frame.

Optionally, the FTM request frame and the first FTM measurement frameinclude function indication information used to indicate that thecommunications device supports multi-user measurement.

Optionally, the first FTM measurement frame further includes at leastone of quantity information or message length information. The quantityinformation is used to indicate a quantity of the at least two devices;and the message length information is used to indicate a length occupiedby each of time information and parameter information of each device, orthe message length information is used to indicate a length occupied bytime information or other information of each device.

It should be understood that, the communications device 700 according tothis embodiment of this application may correspond to the execution bodyof the method in the embodiments of this application, and the foregoingand other operations and/or functions of the modules in the apparatus700 are respectively for implementing corresponding procedures in themethods in FIG. 2 to FIG. 7. For brevity, details are not describedherein again.

As shown in FIG. 11, yet another embodiment of this application providesa communications device 800. The communications device 800 includes:

a sending module 810, configured to send a first fine timing measurementFTM request frame to a response device;

a receiving module 820, configured to receive a first FTM measurementframe that is sent by the response device according to the first FTMrequest frame, where

the sending module 810 is further configured to send responseinformation to the response device; and the receiving module is furtherconfigured to receive a second FTM measurement frame sent by theresponse device, where the second FTM measurement frame includes firstidentifier information used to indicate the communications device, asending moment of sending the first FTM measurement frame by theresponse device, a receiving moment of receiving the responseinformation of the communications device by the response device, ameasurement parameter of each of at least one first communicationsdevice, and second identifier information used to indicate each firstcommunications device; and

an obtaining module 830, configured to obtain, according to the firstidentifier information, a receiving moment corresponding to thecommunications device.

Optionally, the first FTM measurement frame includes a measurementparameter of the communications device and the first identifierinformation; and the obtaining module is further configured to obtainthe measurement parameter of the communications device according to thefirst identifier information.

Optionally, the second FTM measurement frame includes feedbackindication information, and the feedback indication information is usedto indicate a time interval at which each first communications devicesends response information after each first communications devicereceives the second FTM measurement frame.

Optionally, there is a correspondence between a sequence of the secondidentifier information of each first communications device and asequence of sending the response information by each firstcommunications device after each first communications device receivesthe second FTM measurement frame.

Optionally, the first identifier information and the second identifierinformation include a MAC address or an AID.

Optionally, at least one of the first FTM request frame, the second FTMrequest frame, the first FTM measurement frame, or the second FTMmeasurement frame includes function indication information used toindicate that the communications device supports multi-user measurement.

Optionally, the second FTM measurement frame further includes at leastone of quantity information or message length information. The quantityinformation is used to indicate a sum of a quantity of thecommunications devices and a quantity of the first communicationsdevices; and the message length information is used to indicate a lengthoccupied by each of time information and parameter information of thecommunications device and each first communications device.

It should be understood that, the communications device 800 according tothis embodiment of this application may correspond to the execution bodyof the method in the embodiments of this application, and the foregoingand other operations and/or functions of the modules in the apparatus800 are respectively for implementing corresponding procedures in themethods in FIG. 2 to FIG. 7. For brevity, details are not describedherein again.

The communications device is described from the perspective of functionsmodules in FIG. 8 to FIG. 11, and the communications device is describedfrom the perspective of a physical apparatus below.

FIG. 12 shows a communications device according to an embodiment of thisapplication. The communications device includes a transceiver 910, aprocessor 920, a memory 930, and a bus system 940. The transceiver 910,the processor 920, and the memory 930 may be connected by using the bussystem 940. The memory 930 may be configured to store an instruction.The processor 920 is configured to execute the instruction stored in thememory, to control the transceiver 910 to receive or send information.

The transceiver 910 is configured to receive fine timing measurement FTMrequest frames sent by at least two communications stations; and isconfigured to send a first FTM measurement frame according to the FTMrequest frame, where the first FTM measurement frame includes ameasurement parameter of each of the at least two communicationsstations and identifier information used to indicate each communicationsstation, so that each communications station obtains the measurementparameter of each communications station according to the identifierinformation.

Optionally, the first FTM measurement frame includes feedback indicationinformation, and the feedback indication information is used to indicatea time interval at which each communications station sends responseinformation after each communications station receives the first FTMmeasurement frame.

Optionally, the transceiver 910 is further configured to receive theresponse information that is sent by each communications stationaccording to the first FTM measurement frame. The transceiver 910 isfurther configured to send a second FTM measurement frame to the atleast two communications stations, where the second FTM measurementframe includes a sending moment of sending the first FTM measurementframe by the communications device, a receiving moment of the responseinformation sent by each communications station, and the identifierinformation, so that each communications station obtains a correspondingreceiving moment according to the identifier information.

Optionally, there is a correspondence between a sequence of theidentifier information of each communications station and a sequence ofsending the response information by each communications station aftereach communications station receives the first FTM measurement frame.

Optionally, the identifier information includes a MAC address or an AID.

It should be understood that in this embodiment of this application, theprocessor 920 may be a central processing unit (CPU), or the processor920 may be another general purpose processor, a digital signal processor(DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), another programmable logic device, adiscrete gate, a transistor logical device, a discrete hardwarecomponent, or the like. The general purpose processor may be amicroprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor, orthe like.

The memory 930 may include a read-only memory and a random accessmemory, and provide an instruction and data to the processor 920. A partof the memory 930 may further include a non-volatile random accessmemory. For example, the memory 930 may further store device typeinformation.

The bus system 940 may further include a power bus, a control bus, astatus signal bus, and the like, in addition to a data bus. However, forclear description, various types of buses in the figure are marked asthe bus system 940.

In an implementation process, operations in the foregoing methods may becompleted by using an integrated logical circuit of hardware in theprocessor 920 or instructions in a form of software in the processor920. The operations of the method disclosed with reference to theembodiments of this application may be directly performed by a hardwareprocessor, or may be performed by using a combination of hardware andsoftware modules in the processor. The software module may be located ina mature storage medium in the art, such as a random access memory, aflash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, anelectrically-erasable programmable memory, or a register. The storagemedium is located in the memory 930, and the processor 920 readsinformation in the memory 930 and completes the operations in theforegoing methods in combination with hardware of the processor 910. Toavoid repetition, details are not described herein again.

It should be understood that, the communications device 900 according tothis embodiment of this application may correspond to the execution bodyof the method in the embodiments of this application, and the foregoingand other operations and/or functions of the modules in the apparatus900 are respectively for implementing corresponding procedures in themethods in FIG. 2 to FIG. 7. For brevity, details are not describedherein again.

FIG. 13 shows a communications device according to an embodiment of thisapplication. The communications device includes a transceiver 1010, aprocessor 1020, a memory 1030, and a bus system 1040. The transceiver1010, the processor 1020, and the memory 1030 may be connected by usingthe bus system 1040. The memory 1030 may be configured to store aninstruction. The processor 1020 is configured to execute the instructionstored in the memory, to control the transceiver 1010 to receive or sendinformation.

The transceiver 1010 is configured to: receive a first FTM request framesent by at least one first communications device; send a first FTMmeasurement frame according to the first FTM request frame; receiveresponse information that is sent by each of the at least one firstcommunications device according to the first FTM measurement frame;receive a second FTM request frame sent by at least one secondcommunications device; and send a second FTM measurement frame, wherethe second FTM measurement frame includes first identifier informationused to indicate each first communications device, a sending moment ofthe first FTM measurement frame, a receiving moment of the responseinformation that is sent by each first communications device accordingto the first FTM measurement frame, a measurement parameter of each ofthe at least one second communications device, and second identifierinformation used to indicate each second communications device, so thateach first communications device obtains a corresponding receivingmoment according to the first identifier information, and each secondcommunications device obtains the measurement parameter according to thesecond identifier information.

Optionally, the first FTM measurement frame includes a measurementparameter of each first communications device and the first identifierinformation, so that each first communications device obtains themeasurement parameter of each first communications device according tothe first identifier information.

Optionally, the second FTM measurement frame includes feedbackindication information, and the feedback indication information is usedto indicate a time interval at which each second communications devicesends response information after each second communications devicereceives the second FTM measurement frame.

Optionally, there is a correspondence between a sequence of the secondidentifier information of each second communications device and asequence of sending the response information by each secondcommunications device after each second communications device receivesthe second FTM measurement frame.

Optionally, both the first identifier information and the secondidentifier information include a MAC address or an AID.

It should be understood that in this embodiment of this application, theprocessor 1020 may be a central processing unit (CPU), or the processor1020 may be another general purpose processor, a digital signalprocessor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), afield programmable gate array (FPGA), another programmable logic device,a discrete gate, a transistor logical device, a discrete hardwarecomponent, or the like. The general purpose processor may be amicroprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor, orthe like.

The memory 1030 may include a read-only memory and a random accessmemory, and provide an instruction and data to the processor 1020. Apart of the memory 1030 may further include a non-volatile random accessmemory. For example, the memory 1030 may further store device typeinformation.

The bus system 1040 may further include a power bus, a control bus, astatus signal bus, and the like, in addition to a data bus. However, forclear description, various types of buses in the figure are marked asthe bus system 1040.

In an implementation process, operations in the foregoing methods may becompleted by using an integrated logical circuit of hardware in theprocessor 1020 or instructions in a form of software in the processor1020. The operations of the method disclosed with reference to theembodiments of this application may be directly performed by a hardwareprocessor, or may be performed by using a combination of hardware andsoftware modules in the processor. The software module may be located ina mature storage medium in the art, such as a random access memory, aflash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, anelectrically-erasable programmable memory, or a register. The storagemedium is located in the memory 1030, and the processor 1020 readsinformation in the memory 1030 and completes the operations in theforegoing methods in combination with hardware of the processor 1020. Toavoid repetition, details are not described herein again.

It should be understood that, the communications device 1000 accordingto this embodiment of this application may correspond to the executionbody of the method in the embodiments of this application, and theforegoing and other operations and/or functions of the modules in theapparatus 1000 are respectively for implementing correspondingprocedures in the methods in FIG. 2 to FIG. 7. For brevity, details arenot described herein again.

FIG. 14 shows a communications device according to an embodiment of thisapplication. The communications device includes a transceiver 1110, aprocessor 1120, a memory 1130, and a bus system 1140. The transceiver1110, the processor 1120, and the memory 1130 may be connected by usingthe bus system 1140. The memory 1130 may be configured to store aninstruction. The processor 1120 is configured to execute the instructionstored in the memory, to control the transceiver 1110 to receive or sendinformation.

The transceiver 1110 is configured to: send a fine timing measurementFTM request frame to a response device; and receive a first FTMmeasurement frame that is sent by the response device according to theFTM request frame, where the first FTM measurement frame includes ameasurement parameter of each of at least two devices and identifierinformation used to indicate each device.

The processor 1130 is configured to obtain the measurement parameter ofthe communications device according to the identifier information, wherethe communications device is one of the at least two devices.

Optionally, the first FTM measurement frame received by the transceiver1120 includes feedback indication information, and the feedbackindication information is used to indicate a time interval at which thecommunications device sends response information after thecommunications device receives the first FTM measurement frame.

Optionally, the transceiver 1110 is further configured to: send theresponse information to the response device according to the first FTMmeasurement frame; and receive a second FTM measurement frame sent bythe response device, where the second FTM measurement frame includes asending moment of sending the first FTM measurement frame by theresponse device, a receiving moment of receiving the responseinformation of each device by the response device, and the identifierinformation.

The processor 1130 is further configured to obtain, according to theidentifier information, a receiving moment corresponding to thecommunications device.

Optionally, there is a correspondence between a sequence of theidentifier information of the communications device in the identifierinformation of the at least two devices and a sequence, of sending theresponse information by the communications device after thecommunications device receives the first FTM measurement frame, insending the response information by the at least two devices after theat least two devices receive the first FTM measurement frame.

Optionally, the identifier information includes a MAC address or an AID.

It should be understood that in this embodiment of this application, theprocessor 1120 may be a central processing unit (CPU), or the processor1120 may be another general purpose processor, a digital signalprocessor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), afield programmable gate array (FPGA), another programmable logic device,a discrete gate, a transistor logical device, a discrete hardwarecomponent, or the like. The general purpose processor may be amicroprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor, orthe like.

The memory 1130 may include a read-only memory and a random accessmemory, and provide an instruction and data to the processor 1120. Apart of the memory 1130 may further include a non-volatile random accessmemory. For example, the memory 1130 may further store device typeinformation.

The bus system 1140 may further include a power bus, a control bus, astatus signal bus, and the like, in addition to a data bus. However, forclear description, various types of buses in the figure are marked asthe bus system 1140.

In an implementation process, operations in the foregoing methods may becompleted by using an integrated logical circuit of hardware in theprocessor 1120 or instructions in a form of software in the processor1020. The operations of the method disclosed with reference to theembodiments of this application may be directly performed by a hardwareprocessor, or may be performed by using a combination of hardware andsoftware modules in the processor. The software module may be located ina mature storage medium in the art, such as a random access memory, aflash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, anelectrically-erasable programmable memory, or a register. The storagemedium is located in the memory 1130, and the processor 1120 readsinformation in the memory 1130 and completes the operations in theforegoing methods in combination with hardware of the processor 1120. Toavoid repetition, details are not described herein again.

It should be understood that, the communications device 1100 accordingto this embodiment of this application may correspond to the executionbody of the method in the embodiments of this application, and theforegoing and other operations and/or functions of the modules in theapparatus 1100 are respectively for implementing correspondingprocedures in the methods in FIG. 2 to FIG. 7. For brevity, details arenot described herein again.

FIG. 15 shows a communications device according to an embodiment of thisapplication. The communications device includes a transceiver 1210, aprocessor 1220, a memory 1230, and a bus system 1240. The transceiver1210, the processor 1220, and the memory 1230 may be connected by usingthe bus system 1240. The memory 1230 may be configured to store aninstruction. The processor 1220 is configured to execute the instructionstored in the memory, to control the transceiver 1210 to receive or sendinformation.

The transceiver 1210 is configured to: send a first fine timingmeasurement FTM request frame to a response device; receive a first FTMmeasurement frame that is sent by the response device according to thefirst FTM request frame; send response information to the responsedevice; and receive a second FTM measurement frame sent by the responsedevice, where the second FTM measurement frame includes first identifierinformation used to indicate the communications device, a sending momentof sending the first FTM measurement frame by the response device, areceiving moment of receiving the response information of thecommunications device by the response device, a measurement parameter ofeach of at least one first communications device, and second identifierinformation used to indicate each first communications device.

The processor 1230 is further configured to obtain, according to thefirst identifier information, a receiving moment corresponding to thecommunications device.

Optionally, the first FTM measurement frame includes the measurementparameter of the first communications device and the first identifierinformation; and the processor 1230 is further configured to obtain ameasurement parameter of the communications device according to thefirst identifier information.

Optionally, the second FTM measurement frame includes feedbackindication information, and the feedback indication information is usedto indicate a time interval at which each first communications devicesends response information after each first communications devicereceives the second FTM measurement frame.

Optionally, there is a correspondence between a sequence of the secondidentifier information of each first communications device and asequence of sending the response information by each firstcommunications device after each first communications device receivesthe second FTM measurement frame.

Optionally, the first identifier information and the second identifierinformation include a MAC address or an AID.

It should be understood that in this embodiment of this application, theprocessor 1220 may be a central processing unit (CPU), or the processor1220 may be another general purpose processor, a digital signalprocessor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), afield programmable gate array (FPGA), another programmable logic device,a discrete gate, a transistor logical device, a discrete hardwarecomponent, or the like. The general purpose processor may be amicroprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor, orthe like.

The memory 1230 may include a read-only memory and a random accessmemory, and provide an instruction and data to the processor 1220. Apart of the memory 1230 may further include a non-volatile random accessmemory. For example, the memory 1230 may further store device typeinformation.

The bus system 1240 may further include a power bus, a control bus, astatus signal bus, and the like, in addition to a data bus. However, forclear description, various types of buses in the figure are marked asthe bus system 1240.

In an implementation process, operations in the foregoing methods may becompleted by using an integrated logical circuit of hardware in theprocessor 1220 or instructions in a form of software in the processor1020. The operations of the method disclosed with reference to theembodiments of this application may be directly performed by a hardwareprocessor, or may be performed by using a combination of hardware andsoftware modules in the processor. The software module may be located ina mature storage medium in the art, such as a random access memory, aflash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, anelectrically-erasable programmable memory, or a register. The storagemedium is located in the memory 1230, and the processor 1220 readsinformation in the memory 1230 and completes the operations in theforegoing methods in combination with hardware of the processor 1220. Toavoid repetition, details are not described herein again.

It should be understood that, the communications device 1200 accordingto this embodiment of this application may correspond to the executionbody of the method in the embodiments of this application, and theforegoing and other operations and/or functions of the modules in theapparatus 1200 are respectively for implementing correspondingprocedures in the methods in FIG. 2 to FIG. 7. For brevity, details arenot described herein again.

It should be understood that, in the embodiments of this application,“first” and “second” are merely used for distinguishing betweendifferent objects, but are not intended to limit the scope of theembodiments of this application.

It should be understood that sequence numbers of the foregoing processesdo not mean execution sequences in various embodiments of thisapplication. The execution sequences of the processes should bedetermined according to functions and internal logic of the processes,and should not be construed as any limitation on the implementationprocesses of the embodiments of this application.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may be aware that, in combinationwith the examples described in the embodiments disclosed in thisspecification, units and algorithm operations may be implemented byelectronic hardware, computer software, or a combination thereof. Toclearly describe the interchangeability between the hardware and thesoftware, the foregoing has generally described compositions andoperations of each example according to functions. Whether the functionsare performed by hardware or software depends on particular applicationsand design constraint conditions of the technical solutions. A personskilled in the art may use different methods to implement the describedfunctions for each particular application, but it should not beconsidered that the implementation goes beyond the scope of thisapplication.

It may be clearly understood by a person skilled in the art that, forthe purpose of convenient and brief description, for a detailed workingprocess of the foregoing system, apparatus, and unit, refer to acorresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, and detailsare not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should beunderstood that the disclosed system, apparatus, and method may beimplemented in other manners. For example, the described apparatusembodiment is merely an example. For example, the unit division ismerely logical function division and may be other division in actualimplementation. For example, multiple units or components may becombined or integrated into another system, or some features may beignored or not performed. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutualcouplings or direct couplings or communication connections may beimplemented through some interfaces, indirect couplings or communicationconnections between the apparatuses or units, or electrical connections,mechanical connections, or connections in other forms.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physicallyseparate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units,may be located in one position, or may be distributed on multiplenetwork units. Some or all of the units may be selected according toactual requirements to achieve the objectives of the solutions of theembodiments of this application.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of this application maybe integrated into one processing unit, or each of the units may existalone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. Theintegrated unit may be implemented in a form of hardware, or may beimplemented in a form of a software functional unit.

What is claimed is:
 1. A fine timing measurement (FTM) method,comprising: receiving an FTM request frame from one of a plurality ofcommunication devices; and sending a first FTM measurement frameaccording to the FTM request frame, the first FTM measurement frame issent to each of the plurality of communication devices, wherein thefirst FTM measurement frame comprises a measurement parameter for eachof the plurality of communication devices, an identifier informationidentifying each of the plurality of communication devices, and feedbackindication information, wherein the identifier information is used toenable each communication device to obtain the measurement parameter ofeach of the plurality of communication devices according to theidentifier information, wherein the feedback indication information isused to indicate a time interval at which a communication device sendsresponse information after the communication device receives the firstFTM measurement frame, and wherein different communication devicescorrespond to different feedback indication information.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising: receiving response informationfrom each communication device according to the first FTM measurementframe; and sending a second FTM measurement frame, wherein the secondFTM measurement frame comprises a sending moment of the first FTMmeasurement frame, a receiving moment of the response information sentby each communication device, and the identifier information, so thateach communication device obtains a corresponding receiving momentaccording to the identifier information.
 3. The method according toclaim 1, wherein there is a correspondence between a sequence of theidentifier information of each communication device and a sequence ofsending the response information by each communication device after eachcommunication device receives the first FTM measurement frame.
 4. A finetiming measurement (FTM) method, comprising: sending, by a firstcommunication device, an FTM request frame to a response device;receiving, by the first communication device, a first FTM measurementframe from the response device according to the FTM request frame,wherein the first FTM measurement frame comprises a measurementparameter of each of a plurality of communication devices, andidentifier information identifying each of the plurality ofcommunication devices; and obtaining, by the first communication device,the measurement parameter of the first communication device in theplurality of communication devices according to the identifierinformation; wherein the first FTM measurement frame further comprisesfeedback indication information, the feedback indication information isused to indicate a time interval at which the first communication devicesends response information after the first communication device receivesthe first FTM measurement frame, and different communication devicescorrespond to different feedback indication information.
 5. The methodaccording to claim 4, further comprising: sending, by the firstcommunication device, the response information to the response deviceaccording to the first FTM measurement frame; receiving, by the firstcommunication device, a second FTM measurement frame from the responsedevice, wherein the second FTM measurement frame comprises a sendingmoment of sending the first FTM measurement frame by the responsedevice, a receiving moment of receiving response information of each ofthe plurality of communication devices by the response device, and theidentifier information; and obtaining, by the first communication deviceaccording to the identifier information, a receiving momentcorresponding to the first communication device.
 6. The method accordingto claim 4, wherein there is a correspondence between a sequence of theidentifier information of the first communication device in theidentifier information of the plurality of communication devices and asequence, of sending the response information by the first communicationdevice after the first communication device receives the first FTMmeasurement frame, in sending the response information by the pluralityof communication devices after the plurality of communication devicesreceive the first FTM measurement frame.
 7. A communication device,comprising: at least one processor; and a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium coupled to the at least one processorand storing programming instructions for execution by the at least oneprocessor, the at least one processor being configured to execute theprogramming instructions to control a transceiver to perform operations,the operations comprising: receiving a fine timing measurement (FTM)request frame from one of a plurality of communication stations; andsending a first FTM measurement frame according to the FTM requestframe, the first FTM measurement frame is sent to each of the pluralityof communication stations, wherein the first FTM measurement framecomprises a measurement parameter for each of the plurality ofcommunication stations, an identifier information identifying each ofthe plurality of communication stations, and feedback indicationinformation, wherein the identifier information is used to enable eachcommunications station to obtain the measurement parameter of each ofthe plurality of communication stations according to the identifierinformation; wherein the feedback indication information is used toindicate a time interval at which a communication device sends responseinformation after the communication device receives the first FTMmeasurement frame, and wherein different communication devicescorrespond to different feedback indication information.
 8. Thecommunication device according to claim 7, wherein the processor beingconfigured to execute the programming instructions to control thetransceiver to perform operations, the operations comprising: receivingthe response information from each communication station according tothe first FTM measurement frame; and sending a second FTM measurementframe to the communication stations, wherein the second FTM measurementframe comprises a sending moment of sending the first FTM measurementframe by the communication device, a receiving moment of the responseinformation sent by each communication station, and the identifierinformation, so that each communication station obtains a correspondingreceiving moment according to the identifier information.
 9. Thecommunication device according to claim 7, wherein there is acorrespondence between a sequence of the identifier information of eachcommunication station and a sequence of sending the response informationby each communication station after each communication station receivesthe first FTM measurement frame.
 10. A communication device, comprising:at least one processor; and a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium coupled to the at least one processor and storing programminginstructions for execution by the at least one processor, the processorbeing configured to execute the programming instructions to control atransceiver to perform operations, the operations comprising: sending afine timing measurement (FTM) request frame to a response device;receiving a first FTM measurement frame from the response deviceaccording to the FTM request frame, wherein the first FTM measurementframe comprises a measurement parameter of each of a plurality ofdevices and identifier information identifying each of the plurality ofdevices; and obtaining the measurement parameter of the communicationdevice according to the identifier information, wherein thecommunication device is one of the plurality of devices; wherein thefirst FTM measurement frame further comprises feedback indicationinformation, the feedback indication information is used to indicate atime interval at which the communication device sends responseinformation after the communication device receives the first FTMmeasurement frame, and different communication devices correspond todifferent feedback indication information.
 11. The communication deviceaccording to claim 10, wherein the processor being configured to executethe programming instructions to control the transceiver to performoperations, the operations comprise: sending the response information tothe response device according to the first FTM measurement frame;receiving a second FTM measurement frame sent by the response device,wherein the second FTM measurement frame comprises a sending moment ofsending the first FTM measurement frame by the response device, areceiving moment of receiving response information of each of theplurality of devices by the response device, and the identifierinformation; and obtaining, according to the identifier information, areceiving moment corresponding to the communication device.
 12. Thecommunication device according to claim 10, wherein there is acorrespondence between a sequence of the identifier information of thecommunication device in the identifier information of the plurality ofdevices and a sequence, of sending the response information by thecommunication device after the communication device receives the firstFTM measurement frame, in sending the response information by thedevices after the devices receive the first FTM measurement frame.